GOD & SPIES
The Nuclear USS Halibut 587
Based On a True Story
Top Secret Operation
Garry Matheny
Film and Book
Here we have the eBook, GOD & SPIES, for paper back, see Amazon.
Though the film GOD & SPIES can be found at Christian Cinema, Amazon Prime Video,
and other platforms, it is free here, see HOME page.
Based On a True Story
Top Secret Operation
Garry Matheny
Film and Book
Here we have the eBook, GOD & SPIES, for paper back, see Amazon.
Though the film GOD & SPIES can be found at Christian Cinema, Amazon Prime Video,
and other platforms, it is free here, see HOME page.
Preface
I was privileged to have been attached to the nuclear submarine USS Halibut. I was on board during her second deployment in 1974 and her only deployment in 1975, the one in which this account is centered.
I had reluctantly joined the navy and become a diver to make my dad happy. But four years later, I was begging God to let me make top-secret dive in Siberia. (All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.)
Operation Ivy Bells
The CIA headed up a joint operation with the NSA (National Security Agency) and the US Navy, code-named Operation Ivy Bells. The CIA articles that are now declassified, and approved for release, will provide the classified portions of the operation.
There are books, TV, YouTube, and newspapers that have given information on Operation Ivy Bells, calling it “Undersea Espionage” and naming the USS Halibut the “Spy Sub”—and all prior to the declassification by the CIA. But these were written after the Russians found out about the operation.
Though others know about this mission, there are several developments that have never been covered. And I know of no other account given by the divers who participated in Operation Ivy Bells.
“Based” on a True Story
The mole in the KGB is speculation but there is good reason to believe he existed.
There were three water entries on the first saturation dive, but the problem that arose on the second water entry happened on the second saturation dive. Accounts of the briefings were conflated from different meetings.
The accounts of Ronald Pelton, the man who betrayed Operation Ivy Bells, and the “POD”, are accurate, but happened after 1975.
The account of the Soviet Destroyer did not take place in 1975 but there are accounts of it happing to one of the other subs in Operation Ivy Bells. See documentary, The Cold War Submarines-In Enemy Depths.
Disclaimer
I will relay the storyline from my undocumented personal recollection and the CIA releases. I’ll differentiate between what I saw or did from what I was told or heard.
When one reads the word “thought”, what will follow will be the thought in italics and not in quotation marks. For privacy, I have changed the names of those on board the USS Halibut. The crew of the Halibut was not told the name of the other submarine that rendezvoused with us, so I have given her the name USS Stingray.
Pictures of the inside of the submarine are from POND5 and are not from the USS Halibut but are generic pictures of subs from that time period.
Declassified
Grateful acknowledgment to the CIA for releasing this material, which gives the name of the operation, what we did, where we did it, how we did it, and the results. CIA releases are dated from 2011–2013. However, they were not available for viewing until the “Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016.”
In March of 2006, I sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) asking if I could write about Operation Ivy Bells. My request was denied, but they recommended I appeal to the Department of the Navy, office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG). This I did and acknowledged to them that I had signed a nondisclosure agreement. I asked why others who worked for the government on this operation and who had also signed nondisclosure agreements could publish books written in the first person (not hearsay) about Operation Ivy Bells. Their response was “Your appeal also poses questions concerning your nondisclosure obligations. This office’s authority is limited to appeals under the FOIA/Privacy Act (PA) for the Department of the Navy. Your questions fall outside my cognizance.” This was dated 22 May 2006, Department of Navy, office of the Judge Advocate General.
Naval officer John P. Craven was the chief scientist of the Special Projects Office of the US Navy. He has a bachelor’s degree (Cornell University), a Master of Science degree (California Institute of Technology), a PhD (University of Iowa), and a law degree (George Washington University). He guided the navy’s undersea special projects operations during the Cold War, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for his service. He oversaw the conversion of my submarine the USS Halibut that equipped her with many of the features that she used in our special operation.
In his book The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea, published March 15, 2001, he talks about the Halibut and our project. On pages 278–279, he said, “Pelton would betray how the navy had tapped Soviet underwater communications cables, including the crucial role of saturation diving in those operations.” I was grateful to naval officer John P. Craven for writing about this back then and giving an account of our operation that was more than hearsay. This gave credibility to our operation, as John Craven was personally involved, and it couldn’t be swept under the rug as some fantastic story.
I emailed John P. Craven a few times and received two emails back from him. One dated 22 March 2006, in which he talked about writing his book, he wrote, “I have to walk a very fine line.” How was he able to do this? Besides being a scientist, he was also a lawyer. He told me, “That is not to say you should not attempt to write a biography that publicizes the heroism of the men of Halibut in the conduct of perilous and important missions for the United States.” He then added, “You should also know that this letter to you is not off the record, and you may use it or not use it as you wish. Best of luck, Craven.”
On October 2, 2017, I called the CIA and asked about their declassified information in the Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room, which includes Operation Ivy Bells and Ronald Pelton, the man who betrayed it. During that conversation, I told them I had not been a member of the CIA but was involved in a classified operation the CIA headed up, but now their Electronic Reading Room listed this operation as declassified. I was told that everything on their site is in the public domain, and I could write about it.
On October 16, 2017, I received a CIA response to my email: “Thank you for your email. You may freely link to the Central Intelligence Agency website or any of its content. We ask only that you identify that the source of the link is to a Central Intelligence Agency internet resource. Please visit the notice page on our website which addresses this issue.”
Their “notice page” that I was referred to said, “Central Intelligence Agency website is in the public domain and may be reproduced, published or otherwise used without the Central Intelligence Agency’s permission.”
Table of Contents
Chapter I
I Wanted the Party Life
Chapter II
Strategic Arms Negotiation
Chapter III
National Security Agency (NSA)
Chapter IV
Planting a Seed
Chapter V
Navy Diving Schools
Chapter VI
Soviet Embassy, Washington, DC
Chapter VII
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Chapter VIII
Security
Chapter IX
Sold Out in Vienna, Austria
Chapter X
Orientation
Chapter XI
New Diving Equipment
Chapter XII
Briefings
Chapter XIII
National Security
Chapter XIV
Vladivostok, Siberia
Chapter XV
Only Eight Would Be Chosen
Chapter XVI
USS Halibut, En Route to the Sea of Okhotsk
Chapter XVII
Encouragement from Christians
Chapter XVIII
KGB Headquarters, Moscow
Chapter XIX
First & Secondary Diver Control
Chapter XX
Something Puzzling
Chapter XXI
Professionalism at Sea
Chapter XXII
The Mole
Chapter XXIII
God is Working
Chapter XXIV
Submarines Rendezvous
Chapter XXV
Struggling with a Decision
Chapter XXVI
The Pressure Cooker
Chapter XXVII
The Dives
Chapter XXVIII
Home!
Chapter XXIX
The Head of the KGB
Chapter XXX
Icing on the Cake!
Chapter XXXI.
Memories
Chapter XXXII
My Gift to Dad
Epilogue
Special Thanks!
To Halibut’s crew, who brought us to the dive station and then home safely and worked professionally in all their responsibilities. Because of their service and the service of the crews of the submarines that continued this operation, peace was maintained.
“David therefore sent out spies.”
(I Samuel 26:4)
I was privileged to have been attached to the nuclear submarine USS Halibut. I was on board during her second deployment in 1974 and her only deployment in 1975, the one in which this account is centered.
I had reluctantly joined the navy and become a diver to make my dad happy. But four years later, I was begging God to let me make top-secret dive in Siberia. (All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.)
Operation Ivy Bells
The CIA headed up a joint operation with the NSA (National Security Agency) and the US Navy, code-named Operation Ivy Bells. The CIA articles that are now declassified, and approved for release, will provide the classified portions of the operation.
There are books, TV, YouTube, and newspapers that have given information on Operation Ivy Bells, calling it “Undersea Espionage” and naming the USS Halibut the “Spy Sub”—and all prior to the declassification by the CIA. But these were written after the Russians found out about the operation.
Though others know about this mission, there are several developments that have never been covered. And I know of no other account given by the divers who participated in Operation Ivy Bells.
“Based” on a True Story
The mole in the KGB is speculation but there is good reason to believe he existed.
There were three water entries on the first saturation dive, but the problem that arose on the second water entry happened on the second saturation dive. Accounts of the briefings were conflated from different meetings.
The accounts of Ronald Pelton, the man who betrayed Operation Ivy Bells, and the “POD”, are accurate, but happened after 1975.
The account of the Soviet Destroyer did not take place in 1975 but there are accounts of it happing to one of the other subs in Operation Ivy Bells. See documentary, The Cold War Submarines-In Enemy Depths.
Disclaimer
I will relay the storyline from my undocumented personal recollection and the CIA releases. I’ll differentiate between what I saw or did from what I was told or heard.
When one reads the word “thought”, what will follow will be the thought in italics and not in quotation marks. For privacy, I have changed the names of those on board the USS Halibut. The crew of the Halibut was not told the name of the other submarine that rendezvoused with us, so I have given her the name USS Stingray.
Pictures of the inside of the submarine are from POND5 and are not from the USS Halibut but are generic pictures of subs from that time period.
Declassified
Grateful acknowledgment to the CIA for releasing this material, which gives the name of the operation, what we did, where we did it, how we did it, and the results. CIA releases are dated from 2011–2013. However, they were not available for viewing until the “Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016.”
In March of 2006, I sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) asking if I could write about Operation Ivy Bells. My request was denied, but they recommended I appeal to the Department of the Navy, office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG). This I did and acknowledged to them that I had signed a nondisclosure agreement. I asked why others who worked for the government on this operation and who had also signed nondisclosure agreements could publish books written in the first person (not hearsay) about Operation Ivy Bells. Their response was “Your appeal also poses questions concerning your nondisclosure obligations. This office’s authority is limited to appeals under the FOIA/Privacy Act (PA) for the Department of the Navy. Your questions fall outside my cognizance.” This was dated 22 May 2006, Department of Navy, office of the Judge Advocate General.
Naval officer John P. Craven was the chief scientist of the Special Projects Office of the US Navy. He has a bachelor’s degree (Cornell University), a Master of Science degree (California Institute of Technology), a PhD (University of Iowa), and a law degree (George Washington University). He guided the navy’s undersea special projects operations during the Cold War, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for his service. He oversaw the conversion of my submarine the USS Halibut that equipped her with many of the features that she used in our special operation.
In his book The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea, published March 15, 2001, he talks about the Halibut and our project. On pages 278–279, he said, “Pelton would betray how the navy had tapped Soviet underwater communications cables, including the crucial role of saturation diving in those operations.” I was grateful to naval officer John P. Craven for writing about this back then and giving an account of our operation that was more than hearsay. This gave credibility to our operation, as John Craven was personally involved, and it couldn’t be swept under the rug as some fantastic story.
I emailed John P. Craven a few times and received two emails back from him. One dated 22 March 2006, in which he talked about writing his book, he wrote, “I have to walk a very fine line.” How was he able to do this? Besides being a scientist, he was also a lawyer. He told me, “That is not to say you should not attempt to write a biography that publicizes the heroism of the men of Halibut in the conduct of perilous and important missions for the United States.” He then added, “You should also know that this letter to you is not off the record, and you may use it or not use it as you wish. Best of luck, Craven.”
On October 2, 2017, I called the CIA and asked about their declassified information in the Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room, which includes Operation Ivy Bells and Ronald Pelton, the man who betrayed it. During that conversation, I told them I had not been a member of the CIA but was involved in a classified operation the CIA headed up, but now their Electronic Reading Room listed this operation as declassified. I was told that everything on their site is in the public domain, and I could write about it.
On October 16, 2017, I received a CIA response to my email: “Thank you for your email. You may freely link to the Central Intelligence Agency website or any of its content. We ask only that you identify that the source of the link is to a Central Intelligence Agency internet resource. Please visit the notice page on our website which addresses this issue.”
Their “notice page” that I was referred to said, “Central Intelligence Agency website is in the public domain and may be reproduced, published or otherwise used without the Central Intelligence Agency’s permission.”
Table of Contents
Chapter I
I Wanted the Party Life
Chapter II
Strategic Arms Negotiation
Chapter III
National Security Agency (NSA)
Chapter IV
Planting a Seed
Chapter V
Navy Diving Schools
Chapter VI
Soviet Embassy, Washington, DC
Chapter VII
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Chapter VIII
Security
Chapter IX
Sold Out in Vienna, Austria
Chapter X
Orientation
Chapter XI
New Diving Equipment
Chapter XII
Briefings
Chapter XIII
National Security
Chapter XIV
Vladivostok, Siberia
Chapter XV
Only Eight Would Be Chosen
Chapter XVI
USS Halibut, En Route to the Sea of Okhotsk
Chapter XVII
Encouragement from Christians
Chapter XVIII
KGB Headquarters, Moscow
Chapter XIX
First & Secondary Diver Control
Chapter XX
Something Puzzling
Chapter XXI
Professionalism at Sea
Chapter XXII
The Mole
Chapter XXIII
God is Working
Chapter XXIV
Submarines Rendezvous
Chapter XXV
Struggling with a Decision
Chapter XXVI
The Pressure Cooker
Chapter XXVII
The Dives
Chapter XXVIII
Home!
Chapter XXIX
The Head of the KGB
Chapter XXX
Icing on the Cake!
Chapter XXXI.
Memories
Chapter XXXII
My Gift to Dad
Epilogue
Special Thanks!
To Halibut’s crew, who brought us to the dive station and then home safely and worked professionally in all their responsibilities. Because of their service and the service of the crews of the submarines that continued this operation, peace was maintained.
“David therefore sent out spies.”
(I Samuel 26:4)
Chapter I
I Wanted the Party Life
“Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”
(Zechariah 3:2)
“Spectacular Wreck”
“Everett police officers and firemen worked for 40 minutes extracting the driver from his demolished car.” (Front page of the Everett Herald, a Washington State newspaper.)
I was 18, reckless, and I owned a brand-new 1968 Cougar with a 428 Cobra jet engine. And I thought, I look good behind the wheel of this car!
It was 3:00 a.m. I had just left a party and was headed home. I was driving 125 miles per hour, and at that speed the valves floated—otherwise, I would have been going even faster. I wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere; I was just foolish.
I lost control as I approached the 41st Street Broadway overpass in Everett, Washington. The car spun out and skidded around sideways, leaving 80 feet of skid marks, and hit the corner of the bridge. The accident crushed the car’s body, springing its frame into the shape of a banana. At impact, the tires hit the curb and blew out. Fortunately, my head tilted to one side as the car tipped over. So when the bridge tore through the roof, it smashed my left shoulder, instead of my head, and pushed me into the backseat. The force of the crash embedded the car key, which was in the dashboard, into the floor of the car.
The roof had pinned me into the backseat, and I couldn’t breathe. My only thought was, I don’t want to die. With my right hand, I pulled myself up to a position where I could get air into my lungs. It took about 30 minutes for the police to arrive, followed by the fire department. Those who found my car thought no one could have survived, so the coroner was also called to the scene. It took 40 minutes for the fire department to pry the door open with their hydraulic rescue tools. Thankfully, I was alone that night; otherwise, someone else would have ended up hurt or dead.
I was taken to the emergency room in the Everett hospital. My tendons were snapped in my left shoulder and my left anklebone was broken. I still have an aluminum screw in my ankle to this day—a reminder of the foolishness of my youth. And there was one major problem.
During my first few days at the hospital, I lay unconscious most of the time and only occasionally woke up. On the second day I was awakened by a nurse taking my blood pressure—three time in a row. She then ran off and brought the doctor back, who also took my blood pressure. The doctor had me drink something that he said would show up better under an x-ray machine. After the x-ray, the doctor said I had internal bleeding in my left kidney and they weren’t sure they could stop it.
The doctor called my parents, and they came and spent the night with me. Sometime that night I woke up and saw my dad looking at me with an expression that said, What am I doing, raising these kids? He said nothing; he just wore that expression. This was the second wreck I had been in, in just two months. Both wrecks were my fault, my new car was totaled, and now I had hurt my dad.
I said, “Dad, I feel like I have let you down.”
“No,” he said.
But I had and it bothered me.
I loved my dad and I knew he loved me. He was a hard worker and paid the bills. He had told me years before how he was raised, that my grandfather would get upset for no reason and take him away from my grandmother to “teach her a lesson.” My grandmother told me that one time my grandfather took my dad away from her for a year and a half. When my dad came back home, he was wearing the same clothes he’d left in, but his arms and legs where sticking out farther from his shirtsleeves and pant legs because he had grown.
On a couple of occasions my dad told us kids he didn’t want us raised the way he was. But I had been going around doing my own thing, not concerned with, or even considering, others’ feelings. My only concern was making myself happy. But in that hospital room, my dad was looking at me and wondering if raising me had been worth it. I didn’t like seeing him look like that. I decided then to do something that would please him and not me. Without realizing it, I began to obey the Bible—“Honour thy father.” No, this would not save my soul, but there is a promise attached to this commandment, found in Deuteronomy 5:16, “that it may go well with thee.”
Three days after I was in the hospital, the doctors were able to stop the bleeding in my left kidney. A month later I was discharged, with a cast on my left leg, but as soon as I was home, my friends called and wanted to party. Which I did, and every night thereafter. One night my parents waited up for me because I came home late, and they were worried. When I walked through the door, my dad hollered at me. Later in bed, I thought about the decision I’d made in the hospital, to try and please my dad instead of myself.
A couple months later after the cast on my leg was removed, my dad said, “Garry, you ought to join the Navy Seabees.” (Navy Construction Battalion.)
“Okay,” I said.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He looked at me surprised but wasted no time in getting me into his truck and driving me down to the navy recruiter. It was something I never would have done on my own. My dad was concerned about me getting hooked on drugs, my circle of friends, and the direction I was going in, which was nowhere! I had wrecked my new car, and I felt like my life was going a hundred miles an hour down a dead-end street. Recklessness has consequences, but I was going to take my chances—until I saw how it affected my dad. So, I signed up for the navy, not because I wanted to but to make my dad happy.
Boot Camp
I had fun in the navy, but not at boot camp. We woke up at 4:30 am and cleaned toilets, the same ones we had cleaned the day before. Drill chiefs hollered at you all the time, “Hey, you, get over here!” Most of the problem was my attitude, I’d forget to salute and say “Yes, sir.” on purpose. Not smart—they got that out of me. I did pushups all the time. By the end of my second week, I was saluting everything that moved.
The navy boot camp at San Diego shared one wall with the marine boot camp. This wall was at least eight feet tall—they didn’t want navy recruits and marine recruits to harass each other.
When I could find time for a break, I would lean against one wall of our base and look over to the other side. San Diego has a hill right next to where the navy boot camp used to be, with these nice homes on it. And I would look up on the hill and think how lucky they were, that they could enjoy their freedom and do whatever they wanted. But we were getting yelled at.
I heard that one navy recruit said, “They’re not hollering at me anymore.” So he climbed over the wall, but he climbed over the wrong one. He ended up in the marine boot camp! It was the biggest mistake of his life!
Our uniforms were completely different than the marines’, so he stood out like a sore thumb. Supposedly a marine walked up to him and asked, “What are you doing here?” He glanced around and saw all the marines staring at him and said, “Huh, well, huh…” The marine said, “That’s what I thought. Come with me!” He took the recruit to the colonel of the marine boot camp who called our navy captain and said, “We got one of your idiots over here. What do you want us to do with him?” Our captain said, “I don’t want him. You can keep him.” They kept him a week and then threw him back over the wall, with knots on his head. Ouch!
Chapter II
Strategic Arms Negotiation
Vienna, Austria
American and Russian arm negotiators are seated at their respective tables, facing each other, behind them are the flags of their countries. The negotiators are wearing headphones listing to translators. The American team looks frustrated, and the Russians have smug faces.
They adjourn for a break, and the team leader of the American negotiators walks over to a CIA officer and says, “Look at them, they’re playing us. We need to know what they have, what they really have, not what they tell us they have.”
CIA Release
“Also reported was the tapping into undersea cables on the Soviet coast, along which the Russians sent military traffic too sensitive to entrust to the airwaves.” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120051-2)
CIA Headquarters,
Langley, Virginia
The CIA officer who was at the negotiations, is talking to the director of the CIA. “At the arms negotiations, the Russians were bluffing us. Our spy satellites can only see what is on the surface, not what’s inside of buildings. How are we verifying that their systems even work?”
Director of the CIA says, “Our subs and satellites are picking up their radio transmissions, coupled with our spy network and Russian assets, it gives us a well-rounded picture of what they have.”
Officer says, “Russians send their top-secret communications through cables, not through the airways. And it’s hard to verify what a spy or mole gives us.”
“Sir, we have a plan. It’s risky, but if we pull it off, it will be real information, better than anything we have ever had before and verifiable.”
“How would you like to listen to the politburo talking to Russian generals and admirals, 24/7, year after year? We would know the Soviet’s own assessments of their armament, and their plans in the event of war.”
The officer hands the director a folder stamped with “TOP SECRET, IVY BELLS” in red.
Chapter III
National Security Agency (NSA)
Fort Mead, Maryland
CIA Release
“Pelton, a former $24,000-a-year communications specialist at the NSA is on trial in Baltimore on charges of selling sensitive information to the Soviet Union … Pelton was suspected of giving away a highly sensitive NSA program, code-name Ivy Bells …” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220035-3)
CIA Release
“Pelton filed for bankruptcy in Baltimore. On his form, he listed having $64,000 in debts and less than $10 in cash assets.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120038-7)
NSA
Six NSA cryptologists are in their cubicles, men in suits and ties, women professionally dressed. Ronald Pelton, mid-30s, brilliant cryptologist but poor at financial matters, is worried as he receives a call from one of his creditors. He looks around to see who might be watching him, and says, “How did you get this number?”
“The concern here is not about your phone number—it’s your debt.”
“Look, I’ll take care of this, but don’t call here again.”
Mr. Pelton hangs up, gathers his composure and courage, and goes to ask his boss for a raise. He passes his coworkers, and outside his boss’s office he hesitates, then pushes the door open and goes in. He stands in front of his boss’s desk for a moment and then says, “Sir, about that raise. The one I asked you about at the beginning of the month.”
His boss smiles and says, “Well, Ronald, we indeed do have something for you. You’re being given a promotion with more responsibilities and your own office. I’m sure you will like it better than your cubicle.”
“Really? Which office?”
“Second floor, room 33.” His boss then hands him a folder, stamped in red “TOP SECRET”.
Mr. Pelton looks at it for a moment, and his boss says, “There are several new Russian interpreters coming your way. You’ll read about it in your folder. Code name is Ivy Bells.”
Pelton laughs. “Ivy Bells—is this a joke?”
His boss shakes his head no.
“About the raise, how much is it?”
“As to the raise, that will come in due time. But for now, you can enjoy your new office.”
Pelton is frustrated and asks, “Did you say ‘several new interpreters’? To get them up to speed on our deciphering equipment will take time. How much time do I have for this?”
“Just get them ready, Ronald. Something is coming our way, and it has been given top priority.” Pelton walks towards the door and his boss says, “Ronald, you know anything about submarines?”
Pelton turns back towards his boss and says with indifference, “They go underwater.”
“They do more than that, Ronald. Go over your file.”
Chapter IV
Planting a Seed
After surviving boot camp, I ended up at the Seabee base in Davisville, Rhode Island. I was assigned to Mobil Construction Battalion One, which had just returned from a tour in Vietnam. The base in Davisville had an air base, chow hall, theater, and barracks. I didn’t know anyone there, I had no car, no money, and no party life.
One evening when I was returning from the base theater, I saw some Seabees coming out of a small building, and I asked another Seabee about them. He told me it was a weekly Bible study. A few weeks later, one of the Seabees I had seen going to the Bible study was on a military bus with me. We had just come back from Camp Fogarty, a navy firing range where we practiced shooting the M60 machine gun and M16 rifle. This Seabee had been sitting on a bench seat in the bus, and while the bus was moving, for no apparent reason he came over and sat down next to me. In his hand was an open New Testament. I was very surprised he did this—the bus was almost full of Seabees. The situation felt awkward and some of the Seabees were looking at us. Then without any introduction or small talk, he just started with, “Did you know that God loves you?” He read John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I thought, That doesn’t say anything about me. I turned my back on him and then a moment later I glanced over and he looked dejected.
Almost two years after the Seabee tried to witness to me, the thought, for whatever reason, came back to me: Maybe God loves me like someone loves a phone book with all those names in it, and I am part of the billions on the globe. So in that sense maybe it could be true that God loves me. But I still didn’t consider it a personal love that God had for me.
Back then I wasn’t sure God existed. And the only time I talked about God was to use His name in vain. But only believing that God exists doesn’t save; salvation needs to take place. The devils are not atheist, but neither are they saved. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19).
My car wreck made me realize I wasn’t “Mr. Indestructible.” This life, compared to eternity, is only a split second, and I had begun to wonder, After death, where am I going? All these thoughts were in my head, including, If God made me, then He should know how to make me happy.
I started to read the Bible. Though when I first read it, I was not sure the Bible was God’s Word, or even if God existed, still, “Seek, and ye shall find.” The Bible was different from anything else I had ever read. It boldly declared, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The Bible was teaching a different way to heaven than what I had believed. My thought then was, I am no worse than anyone else, so if there is a God, He will let me go to heaven. Though there are many good things that the Bible tells us we should do, still things do not forgive sins or save one’s soul. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16.) The “law” refers to God’s law and His commandments which we are to keep. But keeping them will not save our soul or forgive the sins we have already committed.
I realized that if I was ever going to get to heaven, I would have to do it God’s way. I couldn’t expect God to change His plan of salvation for me, but I could change my beliefs and trust His Son, Jesus Christ to save me. One evening, in a navy barracks, I called upon Jesus to come into my soul and be my Savior. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
Chapter V
Navy Diving Schools
I didn’t want to become a diver, but I did, and for the same reason I joined the navy, I did it for my dad.
I joined the navy as a reservist and had a two-year active-duty obligation. But I kept extending my active-duty time so I could attend three navy diving schools. In all, I served nearly five years on active duty and more than a year reserve time.
The Seabees sent me to a 12-week steelworker school at Port Hueneme, California. While there I saw a guy filling in a request to become a navy diver. I asked him about it, and he said that if I was interested, I should put in for it. I wasn’t interested in diving (though now I am proud of it), nevertheless I put in a request for the navy diving school. My dad used to like watching the TV diving program Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges. He even said to me one time, “Garry, we ought to take up diving.” Well, he never did, but I did for him, thinking this would make him proud of me and put a smile on his face.
Author at navy second-class dive school, Washington, DC.
Second-Class Dive School
Once a request for diving school was accepted, the first thing all applicants did was to go to the naval submarine base in Groton, Connecticut. There we made 60-foot chamber dives, they had us lay flat on our backs and not move while we breathed pure oxygen for 30 minutes. This was to see if we were susceptible to oxygen toxicity. One can breathe pure oxygen on the surface, but under pressure it can cause convulsions.
The navy then sent me to second-class dive school in Washington, DC, a ten-week diving and salvage school. We made most of our practice dives in the Potomac and Anacostia River and a few in Chesapeake Bay. All the schools I attended in the navy had between 10 and 20 students.
I liked this school and the Washington, DC, area was a fun place. I lived off base with some other navy divers, and I visited the sites: the US capitol, Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial and the US Marine Corp Iwo Jima War Memorial.
Decompression Chambers & Bends
Second-class dive school also had dive chambers inside their facility, and they could “press us down” by adding air pressure inside the dive cambers. These chambers were also used for decompression.
The deeper one dives the more pressure that is exerted on his body which requires more air from the scuba tanks to fill one’s lungs. This is then forced into the diver’s bloodstream. If a dive is deep and long enough, it will require decompression.
The bends (decompression sickness) is when the tiny nitrogen bubbles from air come out of a diver’s blood and block arteries or veins in his joints, lungs, or brain.
When a soda bottle is opened, the fizz that is heard is from the carbon dioxide bubbles that come out of the liquid. But if a soda bottle is opened very slowly, then no fizz is heard and no bubbles are seen. Similarly, we decompressed slowly, letting the pressure off to give time for the gas to come out of our bloodstream.
The bends can be treated either by pressing a diver back down again (recompression) so that any bubbles will go back into his bloodstream, or by having him breathe a different gas to help in the exchange rate of the built-up gas in his blood. But this is not an exact science, and if the damage is too great, no amount of treatment will help. Bends can cripple a diver, or be fatal. Anyone who wants to scuba dive needs to be trained by a certified instructor!
Even when following the decompression tables, not everyone’s metabolism will handle this. In all the diving I did in the navy no one was ever bent (had the bends), until our saturation dives on the nuclear submarine the USS Halibut. Two or our saturation divers were bent, one completely recovered, but one did not completely recover.
Indian Ocean
From Second-Class Dive School I spent eight months on the Island of Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We were the second Seabee battalion to arrive there, and we lived in plywood barracks with only screens for windows. In fact, there was no glass anywhere on the island, and the only inhabitants were us Seabees, 1,000 of us, and no women. It was very hot, coconut trees were everywhere and countless crabs, some very large, skittering across the sand. Thankfully, us divers could go diving for fun. Diego Garcia provided the best scuba diving, with coral reefs and an assortment of sea shells. The water visibility at Diego Garcia was the best, on occasions up to 200 feet, but much less during bad weather. The wind would cause the waves to stir up the seafloor and decrease the visibility.
I and four other navy divers made most of our dives from a barge and a 30-foot motor boat. While there we put in an underwater sewer line (not fun). But our main job was to make 60-foot dives in the harbor to connect the hoses of fuel ships to an underwater pipeline. The fuel was then pumped to shore for the aircraft that landed on the island.
We saw sharks and eels almost daily. Usually the sharks would circle us one time and then swim off. However, on one dive, I and two other divers stayed topside while two divers made a 60-foot dive. Ten minutes passed, and both divers surfaced early. One climbed up a ladder, and the other diver was ditching his tanks when we pulled him up out of the water. Shark fins were suddenly on the surface, moving fast through the water. The divers said that these sharks didn’t circle them as usual but passed between them at close range, and they felt threatened.
Fear of Diving?
I don’t have aquaphobia, or a fear of diving. However, I do have a fear of heights. (Though it was not enough to keep me from skydiving once.)
On Diego Garcia, when we were putting in the sewer line at a depth of 50 feet, the sea floor took a sheer drop of about 100 feet, then a ledge of five feet, and then a sheer drop again, and who knows how deep after that. I felt as if I was standing on the edge of a cliff, which gave me some anxiety. I did what I believe most people do—I focused on something else, which was putting in the sewer line.
The dive I liked the least was a hull search of the USS Halibut at Mare Island. This was not the first time I had made such a search. One other time I did this off the California coast, but there we could see up to 100 feet. But the water visibility at Mare Island was zero! Oil and sludge mixed with the water, and even one foot below the water I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
My diving buddy and I were roped together so as not to lose each other. The other diver was to lead and I was to follow as the rope pulled me around. I kept my left hand on my face mask throughout the whole dive because in such a situation it’s easy for the lead diver’s fins to kick your face mask off or kick the regulator out of your mouth.
In water with no visibility and no sea floor to touch, it’s very easy for vertigo to set in and not know where the surface is. I kept my bouncy slightly positive so if my head rammed into one of the skids (explained later) and I became unconscious, I would at least float to the surface.
The purpose of a hull search is to look for a mine or tracking device that some adversary might have placed on our sub’s hull. I hope there’s a better way of doing a hull search today, but then we simply used our hands to feel along the bottom of the sub. Of course, we didn’t search every area, and as we couldn’t see, the chances of finding anything were slim at best, and if our hands did find a mine, BOOM! So what was the point?
First-Class Dive School
At first-class dive school, which was also in Washington, DC, we were taught underwater welding, underwater demolition, and mixed-gas dives, called “heliox” (helium and oxygen), for deep dives.
Breathing air in a deep dive will make one drunk (called nitrogen narcosis. The effect it has on a person has nothing to do with how much alcohol he can drink.)—a dive of 200 feet is dangerous! The US Navy recommends that safe diving be less than 130 feet. And breathing pure oxygen, even at shallow depths is deadly (called oxygen toxicity). Because we could neither breathe air or pure oxygen for our deep dives, we used heliox.
First-class dive school lasted 17 weeks, and one of the more fun projects was raising a ship they had purposely sunk in the Potomac River.
It was while I was in First Class Dive School that I heard the navy had a school for saturation diving. The navy had been training divers to live in underwater habitats at deep depth for days at a time. I thought it was interesting but I couldn’t understand what the need was.
Island of Guam
From first-class dive school, I was stationed on the Island of Guam for three months. What stood out the most about Guam was how humid it was there. In the morning I would walk down a hill from our Seabee base to where the dive locker was, and the air was so thick it seemed as though one could cut it with a knife.
The diving was good, not as good as Diego Garcia, but at least Guam had “civilization” and wasn’t just military, as on Diego Garcia. Our main diving responsibility on Guam was to help the navy dive locker in Apra Harbor at the US Naval Base.
One of the things I did at this dive locker was read diving accident reports the navy sent out. This was done in hopes we could learn from the mistakes of others. Some reports were of those who had the bends, crippled or fatalities.
On our days off, we had the liberty to dive where we wanted on the island, and we came across a WWII Japanese plane in 50 feet of water. Someone had removed the propeller from it, and the coral was starting to engulf it. Guam saw major battles in WWII, with both the Japanese and Americans forces taking the island.
Saturation Dive School
My heart’s desire on Guam was to be accepted to the navy’s saturation dive school. But despite having graduated top of my class from all three schools, the navy sent me to…steelworker school, second-class dive school, and first-class dive school—saturation dive school wasn’t open to me.
I was rejected because my job classification as a Seabee was steelworker, and the navy had no openings for this skill in saturation diving. I was determined to appealed it. I thought that if I just explained the situation that they would understand and approve my appeal. I contended that they did have openings for shipfitter, which was basically the same thing as a steelworker, but my appeal was also denied. I had been fighting this since I arrived on Guam, and had begun to believe it was never going to happen. It made me upset.
I stood inside of the main dive locker at the US Naval Base at Apra Harbor, proudly wearing my first-class diving pin and talking over the phone to my mom, who was in the States. “Garry, your dad is out and will not be back till later.” But she added, “Your dad is sure proud of you, son. He brags about you everywhere he goes.”
“Good,” I said, because that was the reason I’d joined the navy and became a diver, to make him happy.
Then I shared with my mom how frustrated I was because I couldn’t get the navy to approve my request to be a saturation diver. My mom wanted to know who made the decision on the appeals. I told her the decision-maker was the highest-ranking chief in the navy.
My mom said, “Son, he would have a secretary, and you should send her a box of chocolates and a big bouquet of flowers. And then ask her to get it approved.”
My first thought was, That’s not going to do anything. But I had no other recourse; there was nothing left for me to try. So I followed my mom’s advice, and a week later I received orders for saturation dive school.
My mom gave me the key to unlock the door to this problem, and my request went through. Her solution seemed too easy, but I simply listened to my mom and it worked. It’s good this worked out, because sometimes I had the impression the cards were stacked against me. Thanks, Mom, and thank You, Lord, for using her.
Point Loma, California
I graduated fourth in my class from the navy's saturation dive school, a fourteen-week program, at Point Loma, California.
It’s called saturation diving because in a dive of more than 12 hours (in a chamber or underwater habitat), the bloodstream becomes saturated with whatever gases (in our case helium and oxygen) a diver breathes, and he cannot take any more into his bloodstream unless he goes deeper. This is one of the advantages of saturation diving, that the time required for decompression remains the same regardless of how many days a diver stays at a particular depth. If a SAT diver stays one day at 200 feet, it will require two days of decompression. But if he stays at this depth for a month it will still only require two days of decompression. SAT divers stay at their work depth pressure, whether in the water or in their dive chamber, till a job is accomplished. Thus requiring only one decompression when the job is completed and therefore less risk of the bends which is more likely through multiple decompresses.
I wasn’t a Navy SEAL—I was a saturation diver trained to live in underwater habitats. Saturation divers are not trained for combat—as are SEALs. Most people assume that if one is a navy diver, then he is a SEAL, but this is not the case. We are all proud of our Navy SEALs, but they are not one and the same as the navy saturation divers. Some SEALs have become saturation divers, there were two in my saturation class, but this is not common. We were told there were more SEALs than saturation divers (200 saturation divers in 1975, and I heard figures of 300–400 Navy SEALs).
While at the navy saturation dive school, I made two training saturation dives from the USS Elk River, which was originally used as a support vessel for the US Navy SEALAB program. The SEALAB programs I, II, and III were experimental, testing the viability of saturation diving. On SEALAB III (depth of 600 feet), diver Berry Cannon died and the program was ended. We were shown the film of this at saturation dive school, a reminder that it was not a game. After SEALAB III the USS Elk River was used in conjunction with the saturation dive school at Point Loma.
Our saturation training dives were 190 feet for three days. Being divided up with one day at depth and two days of decompression. We stayed in a diving chamber on the USS Elk River, and to make our water entries, we were moved to a personnel transfer capsule that was then lowered through an open well in the center of the ship.
Second-Class Dive School
Once a request for diving school was accepted, the first thing all applicants did was to go to the naval submarine base in Groton, Connecticut. There we made 60-foot chamber dives, they had us lay flat on our backs and not move while we breathed pure oxygen for 30 minutes. This was to see if we were susceptible to oxygen toxicity. One can breathe pure oxygen on the surface, but under pressure it can cause convulsions.
The navy then sent me to second-class dive school in Washington, DC, a ten-week diving and salvage school. We made most of our practice dives in the Potomac and Anacostia River and a few in Chesapeake Bay. All the schools I attended in the navy had between 10 and 20 students.
I liked this school and the Washington, DC, area was a fun place. I lived off base with some other navy divers, and I visited the sites: the US capitol, Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial and the US Marine Corp Iwo Jima War Memorial.
Decompression Chambers & Bends
Second-class dive school also had dive chambers inside their facility, and they could “press us down” by adding air pressure inside the dive cambers. These chambers were also used for decompression.
The deeper one dives the more pressure that is exerted on his body which requires more air from the scuba tanks to fill one’s lungs. This is then forced into the diver’s bloodstream. If a dive is deep and long enough, it will require decompression.
The bends (decompression sickness) is when the tiny nitrogen bubbles from air come out of a diver’s blood and block arteries or veins in his joints, lungs, or brain.
When a soda bottle is opened, the fizz that is heard is from the carbon dioxide bubbles that come out of the liquid. But if a soda bottle is opened very slowly, then no fizz is heard and no bubbles are seen. Similarly, we decompressed slowly, letting the pressure off to give time for the gas to come out of our bloodstream.
The bends can be treated either by pressing a diver back down again (recompression) so that any bubbles will go back into his bloodstream, or by having him breathe a different gas to help in the exchange rate of the built-up gas in his blood. But this is not an exact science, and if the damage is too great, no amount of treatment will help. Bends can cripple a diver, or be fatal. Anyone who wants to scuba dive needs to be trained by a certified instructor!
Even when following the decompression tables, not everyone’s metabolism will handle this. In all the diving I did in the navy no one was ever bent (had the bends), until our saturation dives on the nuclear submarine the USS Halibut. Two or our saturation divers were bent, one completely recovered, but one did not completely recover.
Indian Ocean
From Second-Class Dive School I spent eight months on the Island of Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We were the second Seabee battalion to arrive there, and we lived in plywood barracks with only screens for windows. In fact, there was no glass anywhere on the island, and the only inhabitants were us Seabees, 1,000 of us, and no women. It was very hot, coconut trees were everywhere and countless crabs, some very large, skittering across the sand. Thankfully, us divers could go diving for fun. Diego Garcia provided the best scuba diving, with coral reefs and an assortment of sea shells. The water visibility at Diego Garcia was the best, on occasions up to 200 feet, but much less during bad weather. The wind would cause the waves to stir up the seafloor and decrease the visibility.
I and four other navy divers made most of our dives from a barge and a 30-foot motor boat. While there we put in an underwater sewer line (not fun). But our main job was to make 60-foot dives in the harbor to connect the hoses of fuel ships to an underwater pipeline. The fuel was then pumped to shore for the aircraft that landed on the island.
We saw sharks and eels almost daily. Usually the sharks would circle us one time and then swim off. However, on one dive, I and two other divers stayed topside while two divers made a 60-foot dive. Ten minutes passed, and both divers surfaced early. One climbed up a ladder, and the other diver was ditching his tanks when we pulled him up out of the water. Shark fins were suddenly on the surface, moving fast through the water. The divers said that these sharks didn’t circle them as usual but passed between them at close range, and they felt threatened.
Fear of Diving?
I don’t have aquaphobia, or a fear of diving. However, I do have a fear of heights. (Though it was not enough to keep me from skydiving once.)
On Diego Garcia, when we were putting in the sewer line at a depth of 50 feet, the sea floor took a sheer drop of about 100 feet, then a ledge of five feet, and then a sheer drop again, and who knows how deep after that. I felt as if I was standing on the edge of a cliff, which gave me some anxiety. I did what I believe most people do—I focused on something else, which was putting in the sewer line.
The dive I liked the least was a hull search of the USS Halibut at Mare Island. This was not the first time I had made such a search. One other time I did this off the California coast, but there we could see up to 100 feet. But the water visibility at Mare Island was zero! Oil and sludge mixed with the water, and even one foot below the water I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
My diving buddy and I were roped together so as not to lose each other. The other diver was to lead and I was to follow as the rope pulled me around. I kept my left hand on my face mask throughout the whole dive because in such a situation it’s easy for the lead diver’s fins to kick your face mask off or kick the regulator out of your mouth.
In water with no visibility and no sea floor to touch, it’s very easy for vertigo to set in and not know where the surface is. I kept my bouncy slightly positive so if my head rammed into one of the skids (explained later) and I became unconscious, I would at least float to the surface.
The purpose of a hull search is to look for a mine or tracking device that some adversary might have placed on our sub’s hull. I hope there’s a better way of doing a hull search today, but then we simply used our hands to feel along the bottom of the sub. Of course, we didn’t search every area, and as we couldn’t see, the chances of finding anything were slim at best, and if our hands did find a mine, BOOM! So what was the point?
First-Class Dive School
At first-class dive school, which was also in Washington, DC, we were taught underwater welding, underwater demolition, and mixed-gas dives, called “heliox” (helium and oxygen), for deep dives.
Breathing air in a deep dive will make one drunk (called nitrogen narcosis. The effect it has on a person has nothing to do with how much alcohol he can drink.)—a dive of 200 feet is dangerous! The US Navy recommends that safe diving be less than 130 feet. And breathing pure oxygen, even at shallow depths is deadly (called oxygen toxicity). Because we could neither breathe air or pure oxygen for our deep dives, we used heliox.
First-class dive school lasted 17 weeks, and one of the more fun projects was raising a ship they had purposely sunk in the Potomac River.
It was while I was in First Class Dive School that I heard the navy had a school for saturation diving. The navy had been training divers to live in underwater habitats at deep depth for days at a time. I thought it was interesting but I couldn’t understand what the need was.
Island of Guam
From first-class dive school, I was stationed on the Island of Guam for three months. What stood out the most about Guam was how humid it was there. In the morning I would walk down a hill from our Seabee base to where the dive locker was, and the air was so thick it seemed as though one could cut it with a knife.
The diving was good, not as good as Diego Garcia, but at least Guam had “civilization” and wasn’t just military, as on Diego Garcia. Our main diving responsibility on Guam was to help the navy dive locker in Apra Harbor at the US Naval Base.
One of the things I did at this dive locker was read diving accident reports the navy sent out. This was done in hopes we could learn from the mistakes of others. Some reports were of those who had the bends, crippled or fatalities.
On our days off, we had the liberty to dive where we wanted on the island, and we came across a WWII Japanese plane in 50 feet of water. Someone had removed the propeller from it, and the coral was starting to engulf it. Guam saw major battles in WWII, with both the Japanese and Americans forces taking the island.
Saturation Dive School
My heart’s desire on Guam was to be accepted to the navy’s saturation dive school. But despite having graduated top of my class from all three schools, the navy sent me to…steelworker school, second-class dive school, and first-class dive school—saturation dive school wasn’t open to me.
I was rejected because my job classification as a Seabee was steelworker, and the navy had no openings for this skill in saturation diving. I was determined to appealed it. I thought that if I just explained the situation that they would understand and approve my appeal. I contended that they did have openings for shipfitter, which was basically the same thing as a steelworker, but my appeal was also denied. I had been fighting this since I arrived on Guam, and had begun to believe it was never going to happen. It made me upset.
I stood inside of the main dive locker at the US Naval Base at Apra Harbor, proudly wearing my first-class diving pin and talking over the phone to my mom, who was in the States. “Garry, your dad is out and will not be back till later.” But she added, “Your dad is sure proud of you, son. He brags about you everywhere he goes.”
“Good,” I said, because that was the reason I’d joined the navy and became a diver, to make him happy.
Then I shared with my mom how frustrated I was because I couldn’t get the navy to approve my request to be a saturation diver. My mom wanted to know who made the decision on the appeals. I told her the decision-maker was the highest-ranking chief in the navy.
My mom said, “Son, he would have a secretary, and you should send her a box of chocolates and a big bouquet of flowers. And then ask her to get it approved.”
My first thought was, That’s not going to do anything. But I had no other recourse; there was nothing left for me to try. So I followed my mom’s advice, and a week later I received orders for saturation dive school.
My mom gave me the key to unlock the door to this problem, and my request went through. Her solution seemed too easy, but I simply listened to my mom and it worked. It’s good this worked out, because sometimes I had the impression the cards were stacked against me. Thanks, Mom, and thank You, Lord, for using her.
Point Loma, California
I graduated fourth in my class from the navy's saturation dive school, a fourteen-week program, at Point Loma, California.
It’s called saturation diving because in a dive of more than 12 hours (in a chamber or underwater habitat), the bloodstream becomes saturated with whatever gases (in our case helium and oxygen) a diver breathes, and he cannot take any more into his bloodstream unless he goes deeper. This is one of the advantages of saturation diving, that the time required for decompression remains the same regardless of how many days a diver stays at a particular depth. If a SAT diver stays one day at 200 feet, it will require two days of decompression. But if he stays at this depth for a month it will still only require two days of decompression. SAT divers stay at their work depth pressure, whether in the water or in their dive chamber, till a job is accomplished. Thus requiring only one decompression when the job is completed and therefore less risk of the bends which is more likely through multiple decompresses.
I wasn’t a Navy SEAL—I was a saturation diver trained to live in underwater habitats. Saturation divers are not trained for combat—as are SEALs. Most people assume that if one is a navy diver, then he is a SEAL, but this is not the case. We are all proud of our Navy SEALs, but they are not one and the same as the navy saturation divers. Some SEALs have become saturation divers, there were two in my saturation class, but this is not common. We were told there were more SEALs than saturation divers (200 saturation divers in 1975, and I heard figures of 300–400 Navy SEALs).
While at the navy saturation dive school, I made two training saturation dives from the USS Elk River, which was originally used as a support vessel for the US Navy SEALAB program. The SEALAB programs I, II, and III were experimental, testing the viability of saturation diving. On SEALAB III (depth of 600 feet), diver Berry Cannon died and the program was ended. We were shown the film of this at saturation dive school, a reminder that it was not a game. After SEALAB III the USS Elk River was used in conjunction with the saturation dive school at Point Loma.
Our saturation training dives were 190 feet for three days. Being divided up with one day at depth and two days of decompression. We stayed in a diving chamber on the USS Elk River, and to make our water entries, we were moved to a personnel transfer capsule that was then lowered through an open well in the center of the ship.
While at 190 feet we were in the water for less than an hour, with the water visibility about 90 feet. This was by San Clemente Island just off the Southern California coast.
Upon graduation from saturation dive school us divers received an increase in our base pay. They told us that saturation divers received the highest professional pay in the US Navy. The majority of navy saturation divers went to either the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Florida, or to two ASR 21 submarine rescue ships.
Whispers of Something Secret
I thought, I’ve arrived! I’ve gone as far as anyone can in the field of diving. But I was wrong.
During my time at saturation dive school, in the evening when I was at our barracks, I had heard the word “projects,” and another time “special projects” come up in conversation. And both times it was from a group of SAT (saturation) divers assigned to the nuclear submarine the USS Halibut, which had docked at Point Loma.
I asked one of the SAT divers, “What were you divers talking about when you mentioned the projects?” He was visibly afraid and walked away without saying a word. The next time I asked another SAT diver, he responded, “You need to ask someone else.” This only made me more curious. I asked a diver friend who had been in the navy longer than I, and he said, “It’s the secret stuff the navy does, and to know more you will have to be cleared for it.”
Surprisingly, upon graduation from SAT school, I received orders to the “projects,” even though I had applied for the Navy Experimental Diving Unit. Looking back now, I believe God had His hand in this and was working in my life. However I was not sent directly to the USS Halibut. Instead I went to a support barge for special projects, at Point Loma. I signed a nondisclosure agreement and was on this barge for several months, and bit by bit things were revealed. That’s when I realized why the government had spent so much money training us for saturation diving, “secret stuff.”
More Than Defense
During the Cold War much of what the military did was for defensive purposes. Being prepared for something you hope never happens—war. This is not in vain, as an adversary is far less likely to attack you if he knows you have the capabilities to respond. But this project wasn’t defense, it was offense. Going to the enemy’s territory to get something of value for the USA. They needed saturation divers for this, and I wanted in on it. I liked the espionage part, but mainly because it was by all measures something important.
Chapter VI
Soviet Embassy, Washington, D.C.
CIA Release
“Mired in debt, Pelton declared bankruptcy … Called the Soviet embassy in Washington and asked if he could come by. Although that call was intercepted by the FBI (tapes of the two conversations were played at the trial last week), the bureau at the time did not or could not identify Pelton and intercept him.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402680002-3)
FBI
Two blocks from the Soviet Embassy, three FBI agents are in a van eavesdropping on their phone lines. Then they hear Ronald Pelton’s voice on the phone.
The lead agent says, “Hey, guys, this is him. Trace it.”
Pelton is arguing on the phone about payment. “I told you I have something you will want to know about, but I need help now, not sometime in the future.”
The Russian says, “Yes, of course, but you know this is a two-way street. You have your concerns, and we have ours.”
Pelton butts in, “You didn’t check on my credentials?”
The Russian responds, “Yes, yes, we’ll need to discuss this more, but not over the phone.” And then Pelton is told to meet with them at a prearranged location.
But Pelton raises his voice. “What about the payment? I have creditors!”
“Of course, and we want to help, but we need to talk about this face to face.”
Pelton hangs up.
The FBI agent asks, “Have you got this traced?”
“It’s from a nearby phone booth.”
“Go see if he is still there. We want this guy.”
The Washington Metro
Pelton enters a subway car and sees his contact. They both glance around. Pelton is nervous and argumentative about being paid. The Russian says, “We told you not to call us at the embassy. In fact, it would be better if you visited our country, where you would be treated hospitably, and of course, with all the comforts.”
“No!” responds Pelton. “I want money! What is it with you people? What aren’t you getting?”
The Soviet responds, “If you don’t feel comfortable with meeting us in Mother Russia, then you must understand there are concerns we have. And these sort of things works better in a foreign country. How about Europe? Say, Vienna?”
“Sure, I’ll go on a vacation to Vienna. Just give me the money!”
“We’ll call you at the place and time we talked over before. But don’t call us again at the embassy!”
Chapter VII
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Bay Area, California
In 1974 I received orders to the nuclear-powered submarine the USS Halibut SSN-587. Her name, Halibut, a somewhat bland name for a nuclear submarine, came from the unusual looking sea fish halibut, also called a flat fish. Unlike other fish that continuously swim, the halibut spends most of its time lying on the ocean floor. Similarly, the USS Halibut also had an unusual look and often would sit on the ocean floor during her special operations, sometimes for as long as two months.
Love at First Sight
The USS Halibut was tied up at dock at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. She was 350 feet long, made of HY-80 steel (able to withstand 80,000 pounds psi), was painted all black, and the American flag fluttered from her stern. The guard on the Halibut had a .45 caliber sidearm and registered all who came aboard. I was standing on the dock with two other saturation divers, smiling and looking at the USS Halibut.
“Matheny, what do you think of the Halibut?” asked one of the divers.
“As a child, I saw the Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and ever since, I’ve been fascinated by the mystique of submarines. To me this is love at first sight.” They laughed.
Another diver, Rich, told me a story, “When subs were being assigned to navy captains, our captain, Captain Larson, didn’t smile when he was given command of the Halibut. Of course, the best captains want the newest and fastest subs. Dr. Henry Kissinger was said to have been in the room when Captain Larson received his orders. And Dr. Kissinger took him to one side and told him enough about the Halibut and her mission that it put a smile on his face.”
Tom, the other diver, said, “Matheny, here comes the COB. He probably wants to assign you your bunk.”
COB (Chief of the Boat) is the highest noncommissioned officer on a submarine. He was fiftyish, knew the entire sub and had lots of sea stories. “You must be the new diver, Matheny. Follow me.”
COB and I, after signing aboard, went down through the hatch and narrow ladder into the sub. At the bottom of the ladder was the area where the periscopes were. The duty officer was sitting on a chair and looking at us, and there were three technicians calibrating equipment.
Upon graduation from saturation dive school us divers received an increase in our base pay. They told us that saturation divers received the highest professional pay in the US Navy. The majority of navy saturation divers went to either the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Florida, or to two ASR 21 submarine rescue ships.
Whispers of Something Secret
I thought, I’ve arrived! I’ve gone as far as anyone can in the field of diving. But I was wrong.
During my time at saturation dive school, in the evening when I was at our barracks, I had heard the word “projects,” and another time “special projects” come up in conversation. And both times it was from a group of SAT (saturation) divers assigned to the nuclear submarine the USS Halibut, which had docked at Point Loma.
I asked one of the SAT divers, “What were you divers talking about when you mentioned the projects?” He was visibly afraid and walked away without saying a word. The next time I asked another SAT diver, he responded, “You need to ask someone else.” This only made me more curious. I asked a diver friend who had been in the navy longer than I, and he said, “It’s the secret stuff the navy does, and to know more you will have to be cleared for it.”
Surprisingly, upon graduation from SAT school, I received orders to the “projects,” even though I had applied for the Navy Experimental Diving Unit. Looking back now, I believe God had His hand in this and was working in my life. However I was not sent directly to the USS Halibut. Instead I went to a support barge for special projects, at Point Loma. I signed a nondisclosure agreement and was on this barge for several months, and bit by bit things were revealed. That’s when I realized why the government had spent so much money training us for saturation diving, “secret stuff.”
More Than Defense
During the Cold War much of what the military did was for defensive purposes. Being prepared for something you hope never happens—war. This is not in vain, as an adversary is far less likely to attack you if he knows you have the capabilities to respond. But this project wasn’t defense, it was offense. Going to the enemy’s territory to get something of value for the USA. They needed saturation divers for this, and I wanted in on it. I liked the espionage part, but mainly because it was by all measures something important.
Chapter VI
Soviet Embassy, Washington, D.C.
CIA Release
“Mired in debt, Pelton declared bankruptcy … Called the Soviet embassy in Washington and asked if he could come by. Although that call was intercepted by the FBI (tapes of the two conversations were played at the trial last week), the bureau at the time did not or could not identify Pelton and intercept him.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402680002-3)
FBI
Two blocks from the Soviet Embassy, three FBI agents are in a van eavesdropping on their phone lines. Then they hear Ronald Pelton’s voice on the phone.
The lead agent says, “Hey, guys, this is him. Trace it.”
Pelton is arguing on the phone about payment. “I told you I have something you will want to know about, but I need help now, not sometime in the future.”
The Russian says, “Yes, of course, but you know this is a two-way street. You have your concerns, and we have ours.”
Pelton butts in, “You didn’t check on my credentials?”
The Russian responds, “Yes, yes, we’ll need to discuss this more, but not over the phone.” And then Pelton is told to meet with them at a prearranged location.
But Pelton raises his voice. “What about the payment? I have creditors!”
“Of course, and we want to help, but we need to talk about this face to face.”
Pelton hangs up.
The FBI agent asks, “Have you got this traced?”
“It’s from a nearby phone booth.”
“Go see if he is still there. We want this guy.”
The Washington Metro
Pelton enters a subway car and sees his contact. They both glance around. Pelton is nervous and argumentative about being paid. The Russian says, “We told you not to call us at the embassy. In fact, it would be better if you visited our country, where you would be treated hospitably, and of course, with all the comforts.”
“No!” responds Pelton. “I want money! What is it with you people? What aren’t you getting?”
The Soviet responds, “If you don’t feel comfortable with meeting us in Mother Russia, then you must understand there are concerns we have. And these sort of things works better in a foreign country. How about Europe? Say, Vienna?”
“Sure, I’ll go on a vacation to Vienna. Just give me the money!”
“We’ll call you at the place and time we talked over before. But don’t call us again at the embassy!”
Chapter VII
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Bay Area, California
In 1974 I received orders to the nuclear-powered submarine the USS Halibut SSN-587. Her name, Halibut, a somewhat bland name for a nuclear submarine, came from the unusual looking sea fish halibut, also called a flat fish. Unlike other fish that continuously swim, the halibut spends most of its time lying on the ocean floor. Similarly, the USS Halibut also had an unusual look and often would sit on the ocean floor during her special operations, sometimes for as long as two months.
Love at First Sight
The USS Halibut was tied up at dock at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. She was 350 feet long, made of HY-80 steel (able to withstand 80,000 pounds psi), was painted all black, and the American flag fluttered from her stern. The guard on the Halibut had a .45 caliber sidearm and registered all who came aboard. I was standing on the dock with two other saturation divers, smiling and looking at the USS Halibut.
“Matheny, what do you think of the Halibut?” asked one of the divers.
“As a child, I saw the Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and ever since, I’ve been fascinated by the mystique of submarines. To me this is love at first sight.” They laughed.
Another diver, Rich, told me a story, “When subs were being assigned to navy captains, our captain, Captain Larson, didn’t smile when he was given command of the Halibut. Of course, the best captains want the newest and fastest subs. Dr. Henry Kissinger was said to have been in the room when Captain Larson received his orders. And Dr. Kissinger took him to one side and told him enough about the Halibut and her mission that it put a smile on his face.”
Tom, the other diver, said, “Matheny, here comes the COB. He probably wants to assign you your bunk.”
COB (Chief of the Boat) is the highest noncommissioned officer on a submarine. He was fiftyish, knew the entire sub and had lots of sea stories. “You must be the new diver, Matheny. Follow me.”
COB and I, after signing aboard, went down through the hatch and narrow ladder into the sub. At the bottom of the ladder was the area where the periscopes were. The duty officer was sitting on a chair and looking at us, and there were three technicians calibrating equipment.
From POND5, sub pictures of that time period.
I was immediately struck with how many components were crammed into this space and all the way down the narrow hallway. The entire ceiling was covered with electrical cables and pipes, and the curved walls had more pipes and hundreds of valves and switches. I stood there wondering how anyone could know what they were all for.
I was immediately struck with how many components were crammed into this space and all the way down the narrow hallway. The entire ceiling was covered with electrical cables and pipes, and the curved walls had more pipes and hundreds of valves and switches. I stood there wondering how anyone could know what they were all for.
“They call this area the CONN,” COB said. “It’s the main control area of our sub. Follow me down the stairs to the lower level.”
The stairs weren’t much more than a narrow ladder at a steep angel. I held on to the railing to keep from falling, but a month later, I could almost run down them. Then we entered a narrow passageway that was lined with bunks on both sides, three bunks high.
“By the way, you will bunk in the aft torpedo room, bunk three,” said COB, and then asked, “Where are you from?”
“I grew up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. My closest neighbor was four miles away.”
“I was raised on a farm in Kansas, and there were no kids my age anywhere around. So I had no one to teach me how to be ‘cool,’” said COB, and we both laughed.
As we went through the narrow passageways, I asked COB, “What’s that smell? I smelled it the moment I came on board.”
“That oily machinery smell is something all subs have. You’ll get used to it after a couple of days. Lot of things are different here.” COB stopped and pointed to a small room and said, “That room is for us chiefs. It’s off limits to you.”
COB seemed to enjoy talking about the sub, which he referred to as “our” sub or “my” sub. “There will be an orientation in a couple of days for you and two other new sailors. For all you landlubbers, I have to bring you up to speed on the living conditions in a boat. And it’s proper to call a submarine either a boat, sub, or ship.”
“First, the longer you’re out to sea, the more you wish you were in port. Yes, one gets bored and homesick. After a long deployment, when you get off the sub, you will notice how tanned everyone else is compared to you.”
“Oh, look to the right. That hole in the wall is our galley (kitchen on a ship). Next to it is the chow hall, which is too small for all of us, so we eat in shifts. The chow hall is where we hangout, play cards, or read a book. They show us movies here sometimes. Let’s take a seat and have coffee.”
“We use the power from our nuclear reactor to produce fresh water by desalinating seawater. Subs also have dehumidifiers to prevent the buildup of humidity that will condense on our steel walls and equipment. We remove all the carbon dioxide we exhale with chemical filters. And we produce our own oxygen by ‘burning oxygen candles’ (sodium chlorate and iron powder). I know, it sounds strange, but it works.”
“Names are given to each group on our sub: ‘bubble-heads’ are submariners, ‘nukes’ work on the reactor, the God squad are Christians, ‘spooks’ are the NSA cryptologists, and you divers are called ‘prima donnas.’”
“Hey! Why do they call us that?”
“Some of you divers think you’re special because the Halibut is basically a diving platform. Our sub exists for you divers, to bring you to and from the site of the dive. And you divers are known for getting all upset when you’re not picked for a dive.”
“And who picks which divers will make the dives?” I asked.
“Glad it’s not in my hands,” said COB. “Anyhow, on a sub the only way one can tell if it’s night or day is by looking at his watch, unless one happens to be by the CONN, when they ‘rig for red.’ The normal lighting is turned off, and red lights come on so that if we need to surface, we can see immediately without the need to adjust our eyes to the darkness.”
“Subs have eighteen-hour days—we sleep six hours, work six hours, and study or relax six hours. And it works OK, but the food schedule is on a 24-hour day—every six hours we eat, first breakfast, then lunch, then dinner, and then a snack. However, this doesn’t correspond to how we sleep: when a person wakes up one morning, it will be breakfast, and two days later when he wakes up, it will be dinner.”
“In short, submarines are an alien world with no phones, no TVs, no sun, no windows, no women—and no one ever asks you how the weather is. Welcome to the Halibut!”
“Oh, and Matheny, you’re to report to Security.”
Chapter VIII
Security
“Matheny, what do you think of the mission?” Asked the security officer, who was sitting at a desk with papers in his hand.
“I think it’s smart.”
“Really? Take a seat.”
“Sure. You know the Russians are trying to get information from us. It would be irresponsible not to do the same.”
Security Officer nodded in agreement. “We finished your background investigation, and your top-secret clearance has been approved. I see you’ve already signed your nondisclosure agreement.”
“You’re not to travel to any foreign countries. Nor are you allowed to go into electronics stores, like Radio Shack, because of the possible connection with the operation.”
“There are only 30 people on the sub who know what the mission is and where it will be going. While in port all of you divers will be staying at the far end of the base in the old World War Two barracks. This way there will be less mixing with others and less chance of inadvertently giving away our operation.”
“Your navy service folder which has all of your records will not contain any information about this project or even the name of the project. We don’t want those in admin, who handle your records, to read about it.”
“Our government has sent out teams to try and find out what the mission is. The thought being that if our guys can figure it out, then our enemies could also, and security will need to be beefed up. The navy has planted some sailors among us who will try and get us to talk about the operation.”
“When someone asks you about the project, whether on or off base, you will respond with a simple, ‘No comment.’ It is important to keep the same response no matter how ridiculous a question might be. A newspaper reporter asked a skipper of one of the subs a question he knew was ridiculous and the reporter received the response he deserved, but was actually hoping for. The captain told him, ‘That’s absurd!’ But the reporter followed up with, ‘I understand you’re carrying out covert operations.’ Whereupon the captain became silent. The next day the newspaper headline was, ‘Sub Captain Denied Some Missions, But Not Covert Operations.’”
“If anyone pesters you for information about the operation, then give us their name and we’ll take care it.”
Through the Years
After I was discharged from the navy, people have asked me what I was doing as a diver on a nuclear submarine. When I told them it was still classified, some would take an offense, as though I were personally against them. But if they were in my position, they would have done the same.
Only Three Categories
Sometimes TV programs, books, or films will say something like, “Top Secret or above.” But at that time, and as I understand it today also, there are really only three categories: confidential, secret, and top secret. These can, however, be compartmentalized—in other words, top secret for NATO is different from top secret for the US Army or top secret Crypto. And if someone has a top secret clearance for a program he is working on, this would not in itself allow him to view information of another top secret program, except on a need-to-know basis.
Chapter IX
Sold Out in Vienna, Austria
CIA Release
“To contact Pelton, the Soviets had him wait for a call at the pay phone of a suburban Virginia pizzeria … the caller directed him to another pay phone, where he picked up $2,000 in a hidden magnetic box and received instruction to travel to Vienna.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402680002-3)
CIA Release
“The Soviets uncovered the U.S. operation, which involved the use of American submarines, after debriefing Pelton during two extended sessions in Vienna …” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120053-0)
Soviet Embassy, Vienna
At the Soviet embassy, Mr. Pelton meets the man he had talked to in the States. He introduces him to two other men who would do the debriefing and assures him that if all goes well, each day he will be walking out with “proper compensation.” In the debriefing room there is a third man, a KGB intelligence officer named Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov. Pelton is introduced to him, but the KGB officer only nods his head and says nothing during the whole interview. There they ask Mr. Pelton many questions about the inner workings of the NSA.
Pelton becomes frustrated and says, “That’s not the important thing. What is really important is where we are getting our information from—we’re getting it straight from you!”
The KGB officer, who is in the background, is studying Mr. Pelton. Pelton walks over to a world map and points to a location, saying, “You’re losing information to America here.”
CIA Release
“The location that Pelton pointed to on the map was the Sea of Okhotsk between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the eastern Soviet coastline ...” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP9000965R000706870011-5)
The stairs weren’t much more than a narrow ladder at a steep angel. I held on to the railing to keep from falling, but a month later, I could almost run down them. Then we entered a narrow passageway that was lined with bunks on both sides, three bunks high.
“By the way, you will bunk in the aft torpedo room, bunk three,” said COB, and then asked, “Where are you from?”
“I grew up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. My closest neighbor was four miles away.”
“I was raised on a farm in Kansas, and there were no kids my age anywhere around. So I had no one to teach me how to be ‘cool,’” said COB, and we both laughed.
As we went through the narrow passageways, I asked COB, “What’s that smell? I smelled it the moment I came on board.”
“That oily machinery smell is something all subs have. You’ll get used to it after a couple of days. Lot of things are different here.” COB stopped and pointed to a small room and said, “That room is for us chiefs. It’s off limits to you.”
COB seemed to enjoy talking about the sub, which he referred to as “our” sub or “my” sub. “There will be an orientation in a couple of days for you and two other new sailors. For all you landlubbers, I have to bring you up to speed on the living conditions in a boat. And it’s proper to call a submarine either a boat, sub, or ship.”
“First, the longer you’re out to sea, the more you wish you were in port. Yes, one gets bored and homesick. After a long deployment, when you get off the sub, you will notice how tanned everyone else is compared to you.”
“Oh, look to the right. That hole in the wall is our galley (kitchen on a ship). Next to it is the chow hall, which is too small for all of us, so we eat in shifts. The chow hall is where we hangout, play cards, or read a book. They show us movies here sometimes. Let’s take a seat and have coffee.”
“We use the power from our nuclear reactor to produce fresh water by desalinating seawater. Subs also have dehumidifiers to prevent the buildup of humidity that will condense on our steel walls and equipment. We remove all the carbon dioxide we exhale with chemical filters. And we produce our own oxygen by ‘burning oxygen candles’ (sodium chlorate and iron powder). I know, it sounds strange, but it works.”
“Names are given to each group on our sub: ‘bubble-heads’ are submariners, ‘nukes’ work on the reactor, the God squad are Christians, ‘spooks’ are the NSA cryptologists, and you divers are called ‘prima donnas.’”
“Hey! Why do they call us that?”
“Some of you divers think you’re special because the Halibut is basically a diving platform. Our sub exists for you divers, to bring you to and from the site of the dive. And you divers are known for getting all upset when you’re not picked for a dive.”
“And who picks which divers will make the dives?” I asked.
“Glad it’s not in my hands,” said COB. “Anyhow, on a sub the only way one can tell if it’s night or day is by looking at his watch, unless one happens to be by the CONN, when they ‘rig for red.’ The normal lighting is turned off, and red lights come on so that if we need to surface, we can see immediately without the need to adjust our eyes to the darkness.”
“Subs have eighteen-hour days—we sleep six hours, work six hours, and study or relax six hours. And it works OK, but the food schedule is on a 24-hour day—every six hours we eat, first breakfast, then lunch, then dinner, and then a snack. However, this doesn’t correspond to how we sleep: when a person wakes up one morning, it will be breakfast, and two days later when he wakes up, it will be dinner.”
“In short, submarines are an alien world with no phones, no TVs, no sun, no windows, no women—and no one ever asks you how the weather is. Welcome to the Halibut!”
“Oh, and Matheny, you’re to report to Security.”
Chapter VIII
Security
“Matheny, what do you think of the mission?” Asked the security officer, who was sitting at a desk with papers in his hand.
“I think it’s smart.”
“Really? Take a seat.”
“Sure. You know the Russians are trying to get information from us. It would be irresponsible not to do the same.”
Security Officer nodded in agreement. “We finished your background investigation, and your top-secret clearance has been approved. I see you’ve already signed your nondisclosure agreement.”
“You’re not to travel to any foreign countries. Nor are you allowed to go into electronics stores, like Radio Shack, because of the possible connection with the operation.”
“There are only 30 people on the sub who know what the mission is and where it will be going. While in port all of you divers will be staying at the far end of the base in the old World War Two barracks. This way there will be less mixing with others and less chance of inadvertently giving away our operation.”
“Your navy service folder which has all of your records will not contain any information about this project or even the name of the project. We don’t want those in admin, who handle your records, to read about it.”
“Our government has sent out teams to try and find out what the mission is. The thought being that if our guys can figure it out, then our enemies could also, and security will need to be beefed up. The navy has planted some sailors among us who will try and get us to talk about the operation.”
“When someone asks you about the project, whether on or off base, you will respond with a simple, ‘No comment.’ It is important to keep the same response no matter how ridiculous a question might be. A newspaper reporter asked a skipper of one of the subs a question he knew was ridiculous and the reporter received the response he deserved, but was actually hoping for. The captain told him, ‘That’s absurd!’ But the reporter followed up with, ‘I understand you’re carrying out covert operations.’ Whereupon the captain became silent. The next day the newspaper headline was, ‘Sub Captain Denied Some Missions, But Not Covert Operations.’”
“If anyone pesters you for information about the operation, then give us their name and we’ll take care it.”
Through the Years
After I was discharged from the navy, people have asked me what I was doing as a diver on a nuclear submarine. When I told them it was still classified, some would take an offense, as though I were personally against them. But if they were in my position, they would have done the same.
Only Three Categories
Sometimes TV programs, books, or films will say something like, “Top Secret or above.” But at that time, and as I understand it today also, there are really only three categories: confidential, secret, and top secret. These can, however, be compartmentalized—in other words, top secret for NATO is different from top secret for the US Army or top secret Crypto. And if someone has a top secret clearance for a program he is working on, this would not in itself allow him to view information of another top secret program, except on a need-to-know basis.
Chapter IX
Sold Out in Vienna, Austria
CIA Release
“To contact Pelton, the Soviets had him wait for a call at the pay phone of a suburban Virginia pizzeria … the caller directed him to another pay phone, where he picked up $2,000 in a hidden magnetic box and received instruction to travel to Vienna.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402680002-3)
CIA Release
“The Soviets uncovered the U.S. operation, which involved the use of American submarines, after debriefing Pelton during two extended sessions in Vienna …” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120053-0)
Soviet Embassy, Vienna
At the Soviet embassy, Mr. Pelton meets the man he had talked to in the States. He introduces him to two other men who would do the debriefing and assures him that if all goes well, each day he will be walking out with “proper compensation.” In the debriefing room there is a third man, a KGB intelligence officer named Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov. Pelton is introduced to him, but the KGB officer only nods his head and says nothing during the whole interview. There they ask Mr. Pelton many questions about the inner workings of the NSA.
Pelton becomes frustrated and says, “That’s not the important thing. What is really important is where we are getting our information from—we’re getting it straight from you!”
The KGB officer, who is in the background, is studying Mr. Pelton. Pelton walks over to a world map and points to a location, saying, “You’re losing information to America here.”
CIA Release
“The location that Pelton pointed to on the map was the Sea of Okhotsk between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the eastern Soviet coastline ...” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP9000965R000706870011-5)
The Sea of “O” (Okhotsk)
Moscow
Mr. Orlov, who is in charge of the KGB security, is in his office in Moscow when he receives a phone call from Lieutenant Volkov. “The two men who did the debriefing are still suspicious that Mr. Pelton might be a plant trying to gain our confidence. But because he checked out as being an NSA cryptologist, I don’t see that we have any choice but to follow up on this.”
“Well, if you do find anything let me know,” says Mr. Orlov, and hangs up.
Chapter X
Orientation
There was a large drawing of the Halibut, and COB briefly explained the different compartments and which ones were off limits. COB pointed to the drawing with a pointer stick. There were three new sailors to the Halibut, including myself.
Moscow
Mr. Orlov, who is in charge of the KGB security, is in his office in Moscow when he receives a phone call from Lieutenant Volkov. “The two men who did the debriefing are still suspicious that Mr. Pelton might be a plant trying to gain our confidence. But because he checked out as being an NSA cryptologist, I don’t see that we have any choice but to follow up on this.”
“Well, if you do find anything let me know,” says Mr. Orlov, and hangs up.
Chapter X
Orientation
There was a large drawing of the Halibut, and COB briefly explained the different compartments and which ones were off limits. COB pointed to the drawing with a pointer stick. There were three new sailors to the Halibut, including myself.
“Gentlemen you are on a one-of-a-kind submarine. No other sub in the world has the unique silhouette of the USS Halibut. There is the huge metal bubble on the deck of the sub, named the ‘bat cave.’ It’s the largest door on any submarine that I know of. Designed originally for cruise missiles before she was converted to a special project boat.”
“The project officers love this huge door because they can load large items onto our sub without taking them apart. You will learn more about the project officers later, but they are not the same as the other officers on our sub. Project officers are not involved in the guidance or control of the Halibut but are solely for the oversight of our special ops.”
“On the tail end of Halibut is something that looks like a mini sub, with ‘DSRV Simulator’ written on its side.”
COB smiled as he told us a short story. “One time when we were on the surface and coming into San Francisco Bay, a newscaster who was in a helicopter reported seeing our sub. He described her as looking like she was pregnant”—COB points to the bat cave—“and carrying a baby on her stern, the DSRV Simulator.”
“We are proud of our sub. I want to give you a brief history. The USS Halibut was commissioned on January 4, 1960, and was originally designated SSGN. (SS is submarine, G is guided missile, and N is nuclear powered.) She was designed to launch Regulas I and II cruise missiles. On March 25, 1960, she became the first nuclear-powered submarine to launch a guided missile. She continued in this role until replaced by the Polaris submarines.”
“In 1965 Halibut underwent a major overhaul for special operations and was designated attack submarine SSN-587. Submarines are normally classified into two categories: boomers and fast attacks. The boomer is a ballistic-missile submarine, and fast attacks either protect carrier groups or go on special missions.”
“In 1968 the Halibut was again given a major overhaul and equipped with side-look sonar, a mainframe computer, and much more, but still classified equipment, for her special project.”
“Now let’s cover some basic facts. The Halibut has two levels in the middle section, with the upper level being made up mostly of the officers’ quarters and the CONN.”
“The Halibut also has side thrusters. With these, she can maintain a stationary position while hovering over the ocean floor. And albeit slowly, she can even move sideways! Halibut wasn’t overhauled so she would be fast, but to find things. And her capability to maneuver like no other submarine has made her the sub of choice for the projects.”
“Next is the aquarium. This is a sea lock for lowering a towed 12-foot-long underwater search vehicle called the ‘Fish.’ This Fish comes with lights and is equipped with cameras for searching the seafloor. Its purpose is to find ‘stuff’ in the water.”
“Then there is the ‘Swimming Eye Ball,’ otherwise known as the Eye. This is also let down through the aquarium. Its purpose is to film ‘stuff’ in the water.”
“Halibut has four very large skids, for sitting on the ocean floor. Something rare for a submarine. I believe the divers call these skids ‘tennis shoes.’”
“Submarines come with their own unique dangers. If an explosion or collision occurs on a ship, or in the event of war, a mine or torpedo hits a surface vessel, the sailors at least have an opportunity to enter their lifeboats. And though depth charges can bring a sub to the surface, if a sub is struck by a torpedo or mine, it would most likely not make it back to the surface.”
“Now the following areas are off limits: the computer room, display room, NSA room, and the officers’ quarters. And only the divers are allowed in the aft torpedo room.”
One of the new sailors interrupted. “COB, I’m a torpedoman’s mate. I’ll have to go to the aft torpedo room.”
“What for? All the torpedoes have been taken out.”
“Why aren’t torpedoes there?”
COB responds, “If you don’t know, don’t ask! Don’t you just love spy subs? Besides, your bunk is in the forward torpedo room, which has plenty of torpedoes.”
“Now it’s time for chow!”
Chapter XI
New Diving Equipment
Classroom at Mare Island
Our instructor liked to teach at full throttle.
“Okay, all you hotshots. I know you think you’re lean, mean machines, but if you flunk my class, you don’t dive, so listen up!” We wanted to dive and sat up straight in our chairs, giving him our full attention.
The classroom had diving equipment and 20 saturation divers. There were charts, diving rigs, face masks, wet suits, and a three-foot-long section of five cables bundled together. On the wall were diving emblems, an American flag, and a sign: “Keep America strong—little old ladies get mugged, not prizefighters.”
Our instructor was a qualified saturation diver and knew the new diving equipment on the Halibut. He was going over procedures and differences between that of saturation dive school and those of our sub.
“The project officers love this huge door because they can load large items onto our sub without taking them apart. You will learn more about the project officers later, but they are not the same as the other officers on our sub. Project officers are not involved in the guidance or control of the Halibut but are solely for the oversight of our special ops.”
“On the tail end of Halibut is something that looks like a mini sub, with ‘DSRV Simulator’ written on its side.”
COB smiled as he told us a short story. “One time when we were on the surface and coming into San Francisco Bay, a newscaster who was in a helicopter reported seeing our sub. He described her as looking like she was pregnant”—COB points to the bat cave—“and carrying a baby on her stern, the DSRV Simulator.”
“We are proud of our sub. I want to give you a brief history. The USS Halibut was commissioned on January 4, 1960, and was originally designated SSGN. (SS is submarine, G is guided missile, and N is nuclear powered.) She was designed to launch Regulas I and II cruise missiles. On March 25, 1960, she became the first nuclear-powered submarine to launch a guided missile. She continued in this role until replaced by the Polaris submarines.”
“In 1965 Halibut underwent a major overhaul for special operations and was designated attack submarine SSN-587. Submarines are normally classified into two categories: boomers and fast attacks. The boomer is a ballistic-missile submarine, and fast attacks either protect carrier groups or go on special missions.”
“In 1968 the Halibut was again given a major overhaul and equipped with side-look sonar, a mainframe computer, and much more, but still classified equipment, for her special project.”
“Now let’s cover some basic facts. The Halibut has two levels in the middle section, with the upper level being made up mostly of the officers’ quarters and the CONN.”
“The Halibut also has side thrusters. With these, she can maintain a stationary position while hovering over the ocean floor. And albeit slowly, she can even move sideways! Halibut wasn’t overhauled so she would be fast, but to find things. And her capability to maneuver like no other submarine has made her the sub of choice for the projects.”
“Next is the aquarium. This is a sea lock for lowering a towed 12-foot-long underwater search vehicle called the ‘Fish.’ This Fish comes with lights and is equipped with cameras for searching the seafloor. Its purpose is to find ‘stuff’ in the water.”
“Then there is the ‘Swimming Eye Ball,’ otherwise known as the Eye. This is also let down through the aquarium. Its purpose is to film ‘stuff’ in the water.”
“Halibut has four very large skids, for sitting on the ocean floor. Something rare for a submarine. I believe the divers call these skids ‘tennis shoes.’”
“Submarines come with their own unique dangers. If an explosion or collision occurs on a ship, or in the event of war, a mine or torpedo hits a surface vessel, the sailors at least have an opportunity to enter their lifeboats. And though depth charges can bring a sub to the surface, if a sub is struck by a torpedo or mine, it would most likely not make it back to the surface.”
“Now the following areas are off limits: the computer room, display room, NSA room, and the officers’ quarters. And only the divers are allowed in the aft torpedo room.”
One of the new sailors interrupted. “COB, I’m a torpedoman’s mate. I’ll have to go to the aft torpedo room.”
“What for? All the torpedoes have been taken out.”
“Why aren’t torpedoes there?”
COB responds, “If you don’t know, don’t ask! Don’t you just love spy subs? Besides, your bunk is in the forward torpedo room, which has plenty of torpedoes.”
“Now it’s time for chow!”
Chapter XI
New Diving Equipment
Classroom at Mare Island
Our instructor liked to teach at full throttle.
“Okay, all you hotshots. I know you think you’re lean, mean machines, but if you flunk my class, you don’t dive, so listen up!” We wanted to dive and sat up straight in our chairs, giving him our full attention.
The classroom had diving equipment and 20 saturation divers. There were charts, diving rigs, face masks, wet suits, and a three-foot-long section of five cables bundled together. On the wall were diving emblems, an American flag, and a sign: “Keep America strong—little old ladies get mugged, not prizefighters.”
Our instructor was a qualified saturation diver and knew the new diving equipment on the Halibut. He was going over procedures and differences between that of saturation dive school and those of our sub.
Westinghouse diving rigs.
Courtesy of Gary Lynn
“Today we’ll explain the Westinghouse diving rig, called the Abalone or Mark 11. It comes with all the whistles and bells, all of which will be explained. You will be working in groups of three, taking it apart and reassembling it.”
He then took the diving rig and held it as though it were a baby. “I know of only six of these dive rigs, so if you drop one of them, it will be the end of your diving career. And you will be lower than whale puke anywhere in special projects! Can I hear a hearty Yes, Sir?”
A chorus of “Yes, Sir!” rang out.
“You have all been through three navy diving schools by now, however, Halibut’s system is like none other.”
He held up a section of a diver’s cable. “Attached to each diver are five hoses and wires in a cable that is 350 feet long. It’s true you’re not able to swim around freely, as in scuba, because we have you on a leash with all these cables connected to you. But by now the average diver in this room has made more than 200 scuba dives and 100 dives using a cable. And at a depth of 400 feet, if a diver’s blood stream is saturated, even if he was to swim only halfway to the surface, he would die. The truth is, at the site of the dives the visibility is so poor that without your umbilical cable you could easily get lost and not find you way back to the Halibut.”
“The heliox will be supplied to you through these two hoses, called the push-pull system. One hose will push the mixed gas to you and one will pull it back. So no bubbles will go into the water and reach the surface, and ‘Ivan’ won’t know you’re there.”
“Then there is the hot-water hose. In Siberia the sea temperature is twenty-seven-degree Fahrenheit. It would be frozen solid if it wasn’t salt water. You will be wearing two wet suits, the thin liner one-eighth-inch thick, and the outer suit three-eighths-inch thick, with hot water pumped between the two to prevent hypothermia. The hot-water hose will supply you with 140-degree water, which is why you need the inside liner, so as not to be scalded.”
Diver asked, “If for some reason we were to lose our hot water, would the one-eighth-inch liner be enough to get us back in the freezing water?”
“Not alive.”
Groups of Three
We formed into groups—Rich, Bates, and myself—and started taking apart the Mark 11 dive rig.
Rich said, “Guys, I’ll start by taking out the canister that scrubs the carbon dioxide. You two hold on to this rig. We don’t want to drop it and be ‘lower than whale puke.’”
Bates laughed and asked, “Can you imagine how low that is, the very bottom of the ocean?”
Rich asked, “Did you notice this rig has no regulator like scuba. You don’t have to breathe to have the gas come to you, instead there is a constant flow of heliox. If we pass out, it will still send the gas to us and, in theory, keep us alive.”
“Did I understand the instructor right?” I said. “That there are only six of these in the world. What do you think one of these cost?”
Rich replied, “The rumored price is half a million apiece.”
“No way!” I said.
Rich responded, “Figure the development, testing and all the hoses that go with it. Also this rig will keep us alive at 400 feet with no bubbles going into the water.”
Bates asked, “Do you really believe the Westinghouse engineers who made these, tested them in 400 feet of water?”
Chapter XII
Briefings
The briefings were about our project, what we were doing, why we were doing it, the risks involved, and security. These briefings were sometimes informal and sometimes tense, about high stakes. We had some briefings on the sub and some in an auxiliary building at Mare Island.
Don’t Disappoint Us!
There were 30 men crammed into a small room, waiting for a briefing. The security officer stood before us and said, “Find someplace to sit on the floor. My apologies about the room, but because of security reasons we thought it best to meet in a room with no windows.”
He then introduced us to a Commander Wilson. It was explained that the commander wouldn’t be in uniform because he was the navy liaison between us, the CIA, and the NSA. We were told to give him our full and undivided attention.
Commander Wilson came in wearing a suit and tie, and looked worried. He seemed pressured by higher-ups in the CIA, as though he had been told he will lose his job if the mission gets out into the open or we don’t get results.
“Good day.” said a troubled looking Commander Wilson.
All in the room responded, “Good day, Sir.”
“I don’t need to tell you how important it is that we don’t let slip what we are doing. ‘Loose lips sink ships.’
“Under the wrong set of circumstances, this is the sort of thing that could start World War III, but it’s also the sort of thing that may help end this Cold War. Obviously, the more we know of their operations, the less of a threat the Russians are to us, and lack of intel makes us vulnerable.”
“As you know, to have even one saturation diver on a submarine is unheard of, but 20 saturation divers makes for a very large red flag. Therefore, a plausible cover story has been created. The Soviets are presently testing their cruise missiles and have a splash zone in this same sea. The story will be spread that you’re going there to try and recover what is left over from these missiles. You will not need to circulate this story—we will. And when asked about it, only give our standard ‘No comment.’”
“Our intelligence community keeps using words like ‘the intelligence gold mine,’ ‘pure juice,’ and ‘the mother lode.’ In short, it’s the best thing we’ve ever had. It’s invaluable to us! But there is a problem. It lacks two-way communications because the signal in one direction is too weak to pick up. Last year on Halibut’s second deployment, though there were no dives and no recordings. What she found, the amplifier, was the most important piece to the puzzle. We must have two-way communications, and without this amplifier, with the mode we are using, it’s simply not possible.”
“Gentlemen, if you walked into a room, unawares to your girlfriend, and overheard her saying on the phone, ‘I love you. And I can’t wait to see you and have you hold me,’ you’d be upset. But when she turns around and sees you standing there in the room and says, ‘Oh, dear, please say hi to my mom,’ you would have a different feeling about it. Well, we want to hear all that mother Russia has to say. There are too many things that we don’t understand in these communications because we are only getting one side of a conversation. We are doing a lot of guessing, and sometimes it’s wrong. Our analysts tell us it would be five times more valuable to them if they knew who was on the other end of these communications and what they were saying.”
“Are you listening? A lot of money, training, and planning, has gone into this, but it still depends on each individual to do his job. Now every project has its problems, and we are sending you there to solve problems, not to come back with excuses. You fix it. You solve it. You make it work!”
Commander Wilson momentarily pauses. “And we know you will come through for us and bring back what we want. Won’t you?!” The commander looked as though he had been pressured to get this point across, and he looks at each one of us.
A few said, “Yes, Sir,” and then more, and then all of us.
“See that you do it!” Said Commander Wilson, and then left the room.
Admiral
An officer hollered out, “Admiral on deck!”
All in the room stand and snap to attention. Admiral McKenzie entered and said, “At ease.”
“Look around you. Everyone in this room has had the necessary background checks, you have all signed your nondisclosure agreements, and everyone here has received a top-secret clearance. Out of 130 men on the Halibut, only the divers, these officers, and two NSA analysts will know what the mission is, and where we are going. Even some of the officers on the Halibut don’t know what the mission is.”
Admiral McKenzie walked over to a map and pointed to the sea of Okhotsk. “You are being sent out on a three-month mission. You are going to the Sea of Okhotsk, which the Soviets claim as their territorial waters. The underwater amplifier that the Russians have there, has been found by the Halibut and we are going to tap it.”
“Halibut will be entering in through the Kuril Islands. This is one place we are certain that the Russians have an underwater acoustic range listening for foreign submarines. But our subs are quieter than theirs, and we have done this before and we can do it again.”
“We all know that the Halibut isn’t fast, but no sub would be if it had to push through the water giant skids and a fake DSRV. Halibut was chosen for her maneuverability, not her speed. Besides, at the point of entry, there will be a friend waiting for you, she is faster than anything the Russians have, and she will be your decoy and watch out for you.”
“Though we would like to send our subs to this sea on a regular basis, to get updated intelligence, it is just too risky. Therefore, a device has been developed, called a POD, to do the recordings. You divers will be positioning this device at location. This POD will be left behind and be retrieved once a year.”
“Every diver who gets in the water will be put in for the Legion of Merit. It’s one of the highest medals that our nation gives.”
“Any questions?”
One divers asks, “Admiral, you said this POD would be left at the site of the dive to record for a whole year. Just curious, but no batteries I know of would last more than a couple of weeks.”
“True, but these are US Navy batteries; they last longer.” Laughter from those in the room. “You divers will be briefed on this at location.”
Chapter XIII
National Security
When the operation faced exposure because of Ronald Pelton’s trial, both president Ronald Reagan and CIA Director William Casey tried to stop the leaks.
CIA Release
“President Reagan personally telephoned Washington Post Chairman Katharine Graham to ask that her newspaper not print an article on ‘Ivy Bells,’ the U.S. eavesdropping operation in Soviet harbors ... ” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-009658000504130034-5)
CIA Release
“But Casey has gone public in recent weeks with strong criticism of the press … one of NSA’s most sensitive secrets, a project with the code name Ivy Bells … a top-secret underwater eavesdropping operation by American submarines inside Russian harbors.” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302100006-3)
CIA Release
“CIA Director William J. Casey has asked the Justice Department to consider bringing criminal charges against NBC-TV for its mention of the intelligence program and its identification of the code-name as ‘Ivy Bells.’” Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120047-7
The newspaper Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 1986, which was quoted in the above CIA release, said, “NBC Story on Spying Called Old News”. This “old news” was the justification that NBC used to write about Operation Ivy Bells.
The Philadelphia Inquirer went on to say, “NBC told the Kremlin nothing new by reporting about underwater eavesdropping … the New York Times published more detailed articles … the 1975 articles said … tapping into undersea cables along the Soviet coast on which the Russians sent military information too sensitive to be broadcast … ”
Charges were never brought against NBC. My motive is to show that newspapers during Ronald Pelton’s trial (1986) used “old news” (1975 New York Times article) to justify writing about what we did.
The following article was written two months before our sub left port for the operation. On Sunday, May 25, 1975, the New York Times, on their front page, said, “Submarines were able to plug into Soviet land communication cables strewn across the ocean bottom and thus were able to intercept high-level military messages and other communications considered too important to be sent by radio or other less secure means.” There were only two places where such a tap was possible and it would have been easy for the Russians to figure this out.
CIA Release
“Pelton … admitted to FBI agents … that his disclosures might have placed in jeopardy ‘a few men who needed to go to and from’ the project.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270006-3)
I would add that it could have put our nation at risk. We won the Battle of Midway because we had good intel, but we were knocked to the ground at Pearl Harbor because we didn’t.
We divers had read this May 25, 1975, New York Times article about our operation only a few days after it was written, and when we asked about it, the navy told us that if the government confronted the newspaper, it would give credibility to their article and draw the attention of the Russians. So the government chose to ignore the article in hopes it would die of its self, but the mission was still on.
Were there dangers? Prior to Operation Ivy Bells, when a spy reported back with information on an enemy project, often there was no way to verify it. But this mission provided us with the conversations of Russian admirals and generals themselves, and that on a daily basis. This definitely grabbed the attention of our intelligence agencies. To hear Moscow, year after year, discussing war plans with the strengths and weaknesses of their equipment and troops was just too great an enticement to pass up. Yes, there were dangers but the importance of this mission overshadowed the dangers. The risks were considered greater if we deed not try. We either find out in advance what their plans are, or, wait till they surprise us. All one had to say was, “This sub gives me claustrophobia,” and he was off the Halibut.
“Your Wife is Sending Coded Messages”
When we were out to sea, wives would send family grams to their husbands. Those who were Christians would sometimes receive a Bible verse from their wives. These family grams were limited in length, and in order to get as much in as possible, a wife would sometimes send a Bible reference and not spell out the verse. Then her husband could look it up in his Bible. This got the attention of security, who feared that these were some sort of code, and they wanted to know “Who is John 3:16?”
I heard that our security got to the point that those saturation divers (or anyone) who asked about this project, in the hopes of coming to it, were not accepted. The thought being, that if we were ever infiltrated, it would be by a spy who would ask to join us.
While on the Halibut and out to sea on our 1975 deployment, one of the Nukes decided to write a book about our mission. Of course, the mission was still classified at that time. Had his book gotten out into the open, it would have been either the end of the operation, or at the least, put in danger the sailors on the other submarines that took Halibut’s place. It was purposely leaked that he was mistaken about our mission, which he was. Most of the crew didn’t know what our mission was, and this sailor wasn’t privy to this information.
This sailor’s book was found, and he suffered the consequences: for the rest of the mission, he was confined to his bunk and had his food brought to him.
Leaving port with loved ones standing on the pier sad or crying, is hard. Many sailors say their goodbyes at home as it’s easier to deal with. But when you come home after a long deployment and see your family and loved ones waiting on the pier and waving to you, it’s one of the greatest feelings. Everyone on our sub looked forward to this, and we all had smiles, except for one Nuke.
The Halibut had radioed security about the situation with the Nuke before we made port. I had forgotten about him because he had been restricted to his bunk, and I hadn’t seen him again until the day we got back to Mare Island. His wife met him at the dock, and they walked away from the rest of us. She was very upset about something, and he became visibly despondent with the news she shared. I found out a week later that the government had searched his home while we were still out to sea. I was also told that this was just the beginning of his problems, and this sailor didn’t even know what the mission was.
There were Serious Consequences
Our government wasn’t going to play around with security, nor should they, it was our national security that was at stake. Ronald Pelton, the man who betrayed our operation, was tried and convicted of espionage and sentenced to three concurrent life sentences at the Federal Correctional Institution of Allenwood, Pennsylvania. After thirty years in prison he was released and is presently under house arrest.
Chapter XIV
Vladivostok, Siberia
I heard that our NSA analysts, with their computer-deciphering capabilities, could decipher even what was encrypted, as long as we had enough recordings to give them.
CIA Release
“Pelton case: He told the jury about the NSA’s ability to exploit, process and analyze coded Soviet communications ...” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201370001-1lq)
Soviet Naval Base
KGB officer Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov, who was at the Vienna debriefings with Mr. Pelton, goes to Siberia seeking answers, trying to verify Mr. Pelton’s story. Volkov meets Admiral Anatoly Gorshkov in his large office overlooking their naval fleet at anchorage.
“Welcome to Siberia, Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov,” says Admiral Gorshkov, the 63-year-old commander of the Soviet Pacific Fleet. “Lieutenant Volkov, isn’t it a clear, beautiful day?” says the admiral as he sips his coffee spiked with vodka.
“Well, I thought it a little windy,” Volkov says.
“Windy, perhaps.”
The admiral’s voice raises, “I was told by Moscow you were coming out here. Something about Americans spying on us, on one of our underwater cables.” As he says this, he walks over to a large map on the wall of his office, which includes the Sea of Okhotsk. Admiral Gorshkov stands in front of the map without pointing to any location and turns toward Volkov. “And I understand you didn’t get this information from one of our spies but from a man who sold out his country.”
“Well, yes,” Volkov says.
“And you believe him?”
“I have no choice but to make sure. It’s possible the Americans may have figured out a way to listen to our phone conversations between our eastern military bases and Moscow.”
Admiral Gorshkov turns back toward the map and then asks, “And where on this map did the American say they have penetrated?”
Volkov points to the Sea of Okhotsk.
“Yes, but where in this sea?”
“Admiral, don’t you know if we have a cable in this sea?”
“Of course I know! But does the American know?”
“He didn’t give us anything more specific than this. He is an analyst, not a naval officer. Admiral I know we have an underwater military cable in this sea. I must ask, are all communications sent through this cable encrypted?”
“And why should we encrypt some phone call from a peasant mother who scolds her sailor son for not calling home more often?”
“But, Admiral—”
The admiral cuts him off. “Yes, there is more than that going through the cable, and yes, some of it is encrypted.”
“Admiral, what percentage of our classified transmissions though this cable is encrypted?”
“OK, not much. It takes time and money to encrypt message traffic. Besides, I don’t see this being the problem you believe it to be. I did some calling before you came, and those I talked to said it wasn’t possible to tap our underwater cable without shorting it out. And I know it’s not easy for anyone to come into the Sea of Okhotsk without us knowing about it.”
“Look at these islands.” He points on the map to the Kuril Islands. “This is the only way into and out of this sea, and these islands are ours, and we have an underwater acoustic range here. Its only purpose is to listen for submarines entering our sea, and it’s manned 24 hours a day. The moment a sub enters here, they notify us, and we check our records and confirm if it’s one of ours or not.”
“So have any foreign submarines come through these islands?”
“No! And what is more, our acoustic range has only missed one of our subs coming through in more than a year.” Admiral Gorshkov stares at Volkov and says, “I can tell by that look on your face that you’re thinking that if one of ours made it through, then perhaps the Americans could also.”
“Admiral, I am only trying to verify the story that the American gave us. If an American sub entered in through the Kuril Islands, she would be long gone before a destroyer came. It makes sense to have destroyers ready in that area. Plus, destroyers would have active sonar, something our underwater acoustic range wouldn’t have.”
Irritated, the admiral says, “One month out of the year, we station a destroyer at the main point of entry into this sea. It’s the most probable channel for a foreign submarine to attempt to enter. There is heavy ship traffic in the sea lane between the islands there, and a sub who wants to enter undetected will try to mask its noise by following under a freighter or oil tanker. A destroyer is due to be stationed there starting next week. I’ll inform her captain of your concerns.” Admiral Gorshkov laughs. “The captain of this destroyer is new, a Lieutenant Nikolay. He wants to make a name for himself. But at least he will be vigilant.”
Lieutenant Volkov insists, “But, Admiral, there are many channels here, and you only want to keep one destroyer there, and that for only a month?”
“Yes, you’re right. There are many islands here, and many of these channels are deep enough for a submarine to enter through. So, were you expecting me to give you half a dozen destroyers? And for how long? And by whose word—a traitor’s? I am telling you, neither the Americans nor anyone else can get into this sea without our knowledge, and even if they could, they wouldn’t be able to tap our cable.”
“Now, Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov, would you like a drink?”
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. Just one more question, Admiral. If the Americans did come into our sea, could you bring them to the surface?”
“With depth charges, I could bring them to the surface, but why bring them up? It’s easier to just torpedo them. These are Soviet territorial waters. They shouldn’t be here!”
Chapter XV
Only Eight Would Be Chosen
Instructor
“Your face mask is doubled sealed, one seal around your face and one around your mouth and nose, so if the face mask gets flooded, you can still breathe.”
Westinghouse diving rigs.
Courtesy of Gary Lynn
“Today we’ll explain the Westinghouse diving rig, called the Abalone or Mark 11. It comes with all the whistles and bells, all of which will be explained. You will be working in groups of three, taking it apart and reassembling it.”
He then took the diving rig and held it as though it were a baby. “I know of only six of these dive rigs, so if you drop one of them, it will be the end of your diving career. And you will be lower than whale puke anywhere in special projects! Can I hear a hearty Yes, Sir?”
A chorus of “Yes, Sir!” rang out.
“You have all been through three navy diving schools by now, however, Halibut’s system is like none other.”
He held up a section of a diver’s cable. “Attached to each diver are five hoses and wires in a cable that is 350 feet long. It’s true you’re not able to swim around freely, as in scuba, because we have you on a leash with all these cables connected to you. But by now the average diver in this room has made more than 200 scuba dives and 100 dives using a cable. And at a depth of 400 feet, if a diver’s blood stream is saturated, even if he was to swim only halfway to the surface, he would die. The truth is, at the site of the dives the visibility is so poor that without your umbilical cable you could easily get lost and not find you way back to the Halibut.”
“The heliox will be supplied to you through these two hoses, called the push-pull system. One hose will push the mixed gas to you and one will pull it back. So no bubbles will go into the water and reach the surface, and ‘Ivan’ won’t know you’re there.”
“Then there is the hot-water hose. In Siberia the sea temperature is twenty-seven-degree Fahrenheit. It would be frozen solid if it wasn’t salt water. You will be wearing two wet suits, the thin liner one-eighth-inch thick, and the outer suit three-eighths-inch thick, with hot water pumped between the two to prevent hypothermia. The hot-water hose will supply you with 140-degree water, which is why you need the inside liner, so as not to be scalded.”
Diver asked, “If for some reason we were to lose our hot water, would the one-eighth-inch liner be enough to get us back in the freezing water?”
“Not alive.”
Groups of Three
We formed into groups—Rich, Bates, and myself—and started taking apart the Mark 11 dive rig.
Rich said, “Guys, I’ll start by taking out the canister that scrubs the carbon dioxide. You two hold on to this rig. We don’t want to drop it and be ‘lower than whale puke.’”
Bates laughed and asked, “Can you imagine how low that is, the very bottom of the ocean?”
Rich asked, “Did you notice this rig has no regulator like scuba. You don’t have to breathe to have the gas come to you, instead there is a constant flow of heliox. If we pass out, it will still send the gas to us and, in theory, keep us alive.”
“Did I understand the instructor right?” I said. “That there are only six of these in the world. What do you think one of these cost?”
Rich replied, “The rumored price is half a million apiece.”
“No way!” I said.
Rich responded, “Figure the development, testing and all the hoses that go with it. Also this rig will keep us alive at 400 feet with no bubbles going into the water.”
Bates asked, “Do you really believe the Westinghouse engineers who made these, tested them in 400 feet of water?”
Chapter XII
Briefings
The briefings were about our project, what we were doing, why we were doing it, the risks involved, and security. These briefings were sometimes informal and sometimes tense, about high stakes. We had some briefings on the sub and some in an auxiliary building at Mare Island.
Don’t Disappoint Us!
There were 30 men crammed into a small room, waiting for a briefing. The security officer stood before us and said, “Find someplace to sit on the floor. My apologies about the room, but because of security reasons we thought it best to meet in a room with no windows.”
He then introduced us to a Commander Wilson. It was explained that the commander wouldn’t be in uniform because he was the navy liaison between us, the CIA, and the NSA. We were told to give him our full and undivided attention.
Commander Wilson came in wearing a suit and tie, and looked worried. He seemed pressured by higher-ups in the CIA, as though he had been told he will lose his job if the mission gets out into the open or we don’t get results.
“Good day.” said a troubled looking Commander Wilson.
All in the room responded, “Good day, Sir.”
“I don’t need to tell you how important it is that we don’t let slip what we are doing. ‘Loose lips sink ships.’
“Under the wrong set of circumstances, this is the sort of thing that could start World War III, but it’s also the sort of thing that may help end this Cold War. Obviously, the more we know of their operations, the less of a threat the Russians are to us, and lack of intel makes us vulnerable.”
“As you know, to have even one saturation diver on a submarine is unheard of, but 20 saturation divers makes for a very large red flag. Therefore, a plausible cover story has been created. The Soviets are presently testing their cruise missiles and have a splash zone in this same sea. The story will be spread that you’re going there to try and recover what is left over from these missiles. You will not need to circulate this story—we will. And when asked about it, only give our standard ‘No comment.’”
“Our intelligence community keeps using words like ‘the intelligence gold mine,’ ‘pure juice,’ and ‘the mother lode.’ In short, it’s the best thing we’ve ever had. It’s invaluable to us! But there is a problem. It lacks two-way communications because the signal in one direction is too weak to pick up. Last year on Halibut’s second deployment, though there were no dives and no recordings. What she found, the amplifier, was the most important piece to the puzzle. We must have two-way communications, and without this amplifier, with the mode we are using, it’s simply not possible.”
“Gentlemen, if you walked into a room, unawares to your girlfriend, and overheard her saying on the phone, ‘I love you. And I can’t wait to see you and have you hold me,’ you’d be upset. But when she turns around and sees you standing there in the room and says, ‘Oh, dear, please say hi to my mom,’ you would have a different feeling about it. Well, we want to hear all that mother Russia has to say. There are too many things that we don’t understand in these communications because we are only getting one side of a conversation. We are doing a lot of guessing, and sometimes it’s wrong. Our analysts tell us it would be five times more valuable to them if they knew who was on the other end of these communications and what they were saying.”
“Are you listening? A lot of money, training, and planning, has gone into this, but it still depends on each individual to do his job. Now every project has its problems, and we are sending you there to solve problems, not to come back with excuses. You fix it. You solve it. You make it work!”
Commander Wilson momentarily pauses. “And we know you will come through for us and bring back what we want. Won’t you?!” The commander looked as though he had been pressured to get this point across, and he looks at each one of us.
A few said, “Yes, Sir,” and then more, and then all of us.
“See that you do it!” Said Commander Wilson, and then left the room.
Admiral
An officer hollered out, “Admiral on deck!”
All in the room stand and snap to attention. Admiral McKenzie entered and said, “At ease.”
“Look around you. Everyone in this room has had the necessary background checks, you have all signed your nondisclosure agreements, and everyone here has received a top-secret clearance. Out of 130 men on the Halibut, only the divers, these officers, and two NSA analysts will know what the mission is, and where we are going. Even some of the officers on the Halibut don’t know what the mission is.”
Admiral McKenzie walked over to a map and pointed to the sea of Okhotsk. “You are being sent out on a three-month mission. You are going to the Sea of Okhotsk, which the Soviets claim as their territorial waters. The underwater amplifier that the Russians have there, has been found by the Halibut and we are going to tap it.”
“Halibut will be entering in through the Kuril Islands. This is one place we are certain that the Russians have an underwater acoustic range listening for foreign submarines. But our subs are quieter than theirs, and we have done this before and we can do it again.”
“We all know that the Halibut isn’t fast, but no sub would be if it had to push through the water giant skids and a fake DSRV. Halibut was chosen for her maneuverability, not her speed. Besides, at the point of entry, there will be a friend waiting for you, she is faster than anything the Russians have, and she will be your decoy and watch out for you.”
“Though we would like to send our subs to this sea on a regular basis, to get updated intelligence, it is just too risky. Therefore, a device has been developed, called a POD, to do the recordings. You divers will be positioning this device at location. This POD will be left behind and be retrieved once a year.”
“Every diver who gets in the water will be put in for the Legion of Merit. It’s one of the highest medals that our nation gives.”
“Any questions?”
One divers asks, “Admiral, you said this POD would be left at the site of the dive to record for a whole year. Just curious, but no batteries I know of would last more than a couple of weeks.”
“True, but these are US Navy batteries; they last longer.” Laughter from those in the room. “You divers will be briefed on this at location.”
Chapter XIII
National Security
When the operation faced exposure because of Ronald Pelton’s trial, both president Ronald Reagan and CIA Director William Casey tried to stop the leaks.
CIA Release
“President Reagan personally telephoned Washington Post Chairman Katharine Graham to ask that her newspaper not print an article on ‘Ivy Bells,’ the U.S. eavesdropping operation in Soviet harbors ... ” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-009658000504130034-5)
CIA Release
“But Casey has gone public in recent weeks with strong criticism of the press … one of NSA’s most sensitive secrets, a project with the code name Ivy Bells … a top-secret underwater eavesdropping operation by American submarines inside Russian harbors.” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302100006-3)
CIA Release
“CIA Director William J. Casey has asked the Justice Department to consider bringing criminal charges against NBC-TV for its mention of the intelligence program and its identification of the code-name as ‘Ivy Bells.’” Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120047-7
The newspaper Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 1986, which was quoted in the above CIA release, said, “NBC Story on Spying Called Old News”. This “old news” was the justification that NBC used to write about Operation Ivy Bells.
The Philadelphia Inquirer went on to say, “NBC told the Kremlin nothing new by reporting about underwater eavesdropping … the New York Times published more detailed articles … the 1975 articles said … tapping into undersea cables along the Soviet coast on which the Russians sent military information too sensitive to be broadcast … ”
Charges were never brought against NBC. My motive is to show that newspapers during Ronald Pelton’s trial (1986) used “old news” (1975 New York Times article) to justify writing about what we did.
The following article was written two months before our sub left port for the operation. On Sunday, May 25, 1975, the New York Times, on their front page, said, “Submarines were able to plug into Soviet land communication cables strewn across the ocean bottom and thus were able to intercept high-level military messages and other communications considered too important to be sent by radio or other less secure means.” There were only two places where such a tap was possible and it would have been easy for the Russians to figure this out.
CIA Release
“Pelton … admitted to FBI agents … that his disclosures might have placed in jeopardy ‘a few men who needed to go to and from’ the project.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270006-3)
I would add that it could have put our nation at risk. We won the Battle of Midway because we had good intel, but we were knocked to the ground at Pearl Harbor because we didn’t.
We divers had read this May 25, 1975, New York Times article about our operation only a few days after it was written, and when we asked about it, the navy told us that if the government confronted the newspaper, it would give credibility to their article and draw the attention of the Russians. So the government chose to ignore the article in hopes it would die of its self, but the mission was still on.
Were there dangers? Prior to Operation Ivy Bells, when a spy reported back with information on an enemy project, often there was no way to verify it. But this mission provided us with the conversations of Russian admirals and generals themselves, and that on a daily basis. This definitely grabbed the attention of our intelligence agencies. To hear Moscow, year after year, discussing war plans with the strengths and weaknesses of their equipment and troops was just too great an enticement to pass up. Yes, there were dangers but the importance of this mission overshadowed the dangers. The risks were considered greater if we deed not try. We either find out in advance what their plans are, or, wait till they surprise us. All one had to say was, “This sub gives me claustrophobia,” and he was off the Halibut.
“Your Wife is Sending Coded Messages”
When we were out to sea, wives would send family grams to their husbands. Those who were Christians would sometimes receive a Bible verse from their wives. These family grams were limited in length, and in order to get as much in as possible, a wife would sometimes send a Bible reference and not spell out the verse. Then her husband could look it up in his Bible. This got the attention of security, who feared that these were some sort of code, and they wanted to know “Who is John 3:16?”
I heard that our security got to the point that those saturation divers (or anyone) who asked about this project, in the hopes of coming to it, were not accepted. The thought being, that if we were ever infiltrated, it would be by a spy who would ask to join us.
While on the Halibut and out to sea on our 1975 deployment, one of the Nukes decided to write a book about our mission. Of course, the mission was still classified at that time. Had his book gotten out into the open, it would have been either the end of the operation, or at the least, put in danger the sailors on the other submarines that took Halibut’s place. It was purposely leaked that he was mistaken about our mission, which he was. Most of the crew didn’t know what our mission was, and this sailor wasn’t privy to this information.
This sailor’s book was found, and he suffered the consequences: for the rest of the mission, he was confined to his bunk and had his food brought to him.
Leaving port with loved ones standing on the pier sad or crying, is hard. Many sailors say their goodbyes at home as it’s easier to deal with. But when you come home after a long deployment and see your family and loved ones waiting on the pier and waving to you, it’s one of the greatest feelings. Everyone on our sub looked forward to this, and we all had smiles, except for one Nuke.
The Halibut had radioed security about the situation with the Nuke before we made port. I had forgotten about him because he had been restricted to his bunk, and I hadn’t seen him again until the day we got back to Mare Island. His wife met him at the dock, and they walked away from the rest of us. She was very upset about something, and he became visibly despondent with the news she shared. I found out a week later that the government had searched his home while we were still out to sea. I was also told that this was just the beginning of his problems, and this sailor didn’t even know what the mission was.
There were Serious Consequences
Our government wasn’t going to play around with security, nor should they, it was our national security that was at stake. Ronald Pelton, the man who betrayed our operation, was tried and convicted of espionage and sentenced to three concurrent life sentences at the Federal Correctional Institution of Allenwood, Pennsylvania. After thirty years in prison he was released and is presently under house arrest.
Chapter XIV
Vladivostok, Siberia
I heard that our NSA analysts, with their computer-deciphering capabilities, could decipher even what was encrypted, as long as we had enough recordings to give them.
CIA Release
“Pelton case: He told the jury about the NSA’s ability to exploit, process and analyze coded Soviet communications ...” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201370001-1lq)
Soviet Naval Base
KGB officer Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov, who was at the Vienna debriefings with Mr. Pelton, goes to Siberia seeking answers, trying to verify Mr. Pelton’s story. Volkov meets Admiral Anatoly Gorshkov in his large office overlooking their naval fleet at anchorage.
“Welcome to Siberia, Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov,” says Admiral Gorshkov, the 63-year-old commander of the Soviet Pacific Fleet. “Lieutenant Volkov, isn’t it a clear, beautiful day?” says the admiral as he sips his coffee spiked with vodka.
“Well, I thought it a little windy,” Volkov says.
“Windy, perhaps.”
The admiral’s voice raises, “I was told by Moscow you were coming out here. Something about Americans spying on us, on one of our underwater cables.” As he says this, he walks over to a large map on the wall of his office, which includes the Sea of Okhotsk. Admiral Gorshkov stands in front of the map without pointing to any location and turns toward Volkov. “And I understand you didn’t get this information from one of our spies but from a man who sold out his country.”
“Well, yes,” Volkov says.
“And you believe him?”
“I have no choice but to make sure. It’s possible the Americans may have figured out a way to listen to our phone conversations between our eastern military bases and Moscow.”
Admiral Gorshkov turns back toward the map and then asks, “And where on this map did the American say they have penetrated?”
Volkov points to the Sea of Okhotsk.
“Yes, but where in this sea?”
“Admiral, don’t you know if we have a cable in this sea?”
“Of course I know! But does the American know?”
“He didn’t give us anything more specific than this. He is an analyst, not a naval officer. Admiral I know we have an underwater military cable in this sea. I must ask, are all communications sent through this cable encrypted?”
“And why should we encrypt some phone call from a peasant mother who scolds her sailor son for not calling home more often?”
“But, Admiral—”
The admiral cuts him off. “Yes, there is more than that going through the cable, and yes, some of it is encrypted.”
“Admiral, what percentage of our classified transmissions though this cable is encrypted?”
“OK, not much. It takes time and money to encrypt message traffic. Besides, I don’t see this being the problem you believe it to be. I did some calling before you came, and those I talked to said it wasn’t possible to tap our underwater cable without shorting it out. And I know it’s not easy for anyone to come into the Sea of Okhotsk without us knowing about it.”
“Look at these islands.” He points on the map to the Kuril Islands. “This is the only way into and out of this sea, and these islands are ours, and we have an underwater acoustic range here. Its only purpose is to listen for submarines entering our sea, and it’s manned 24 hours a day. The moment a sub enters here, they notify us, and we check our records and confirm if it’s one of ours or not.”
“So have any foreign submarines come through these islands?”
“No! And what is more, our acoustic range has only missed one of our subs coming through in more than a year.” Admiral Gorshkov stares at Volkov and says, “I can tell by that look on your face that you’re thinking that if one of ours made it through, then perhaps the Americans could also.”
“Admiral, I am only trying to verify the story that the American gave us. If an American sub entered in through the Kuril Islands, she would be long gone before a destroyer came. It makes sense to have destroyers ready in that area. Plus, destroyers would have active sonar, something our underwater acoustic range wouldn’t have.”
Irritated, the admiral says, “One month out of the year, we station a destroyer at the main point of entry into this sea. It’s the most probable channel for a foreign submarine to attempt to enter. There is heavy ship traffic in the sea lane between the islands there, and a sub who wants to enter undetected will try to mask its noise by following under a freighter or oil tanker. A destroyer is due to be stationed there starting next week. I’ll inform her captain of your concerns.” Admiral Gorshkov laughs. “The captain of this destroyer is new, a Lieutenant Nikolay. He wants to make a name for himself. But at least he will be vigilant.”
Lieutenant Volkov insists, “But, Admiral, there are many channels here, and you only want to keep one destroyer there, and that for only a month?”
“Yes, you’re right. There are many islands here, and many of these channels are deep enough for a submarine to enter through. So, were you expecting me to give you half a dozen destroyers? And for how long? And by whose word—a traitor’s? I am telling you, neither the Americans nor anyone else can get into this sea without our knowledge, and even if they could, they wouldn’t be able to tap our cable.”
“Now, Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov, would you like a drink?”
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. Just one more question, Admiral. If the Americans did come into our sea, could you bring them to the surface?”
“With depth charges, I could bring them to the surface, but why bring them up? It’s easier to just torpedo them. These are Soviet territorial waters. They shouldn’t be here!”
Chapter XV
Only Eight Would Be Chosen
Instructor
“Your face mask is doubled sealed, one seal around your face and one around your mouth and nose, so if the face mask gets flooded, you can still breathe.”
Modified Kirby Morgan band mask. Courtesy of H I Sutton, Covert Shores.
“You also have your communication cable. This face mask has a headset and speaker for communications, which is connected to the helium speech descrambler in the dive chamber. You will need this because the helium will make you sound like Donald Duck—an effect brought on by the helium on your vocal cords.”
“Your diving rigs are semi-rebreathers, which means you rebreathe your mixed gas. Only one in six breaths will be a fresh supply of gas. This rig will scrub the carbon dioxide that you exhale, and the fresh gas mix will be supplied by your hoses. Our semi-rebreather also heats the mixed gas you breathe, as the freezing water makes the gas so cold it will give you a headache. This is even a bigger problem with helium because of its poor thermal properties, which takes heat away from your body.”
“There are pockets in this outer wet suit for your weights. Keep your buoyancy slightly negative. Also, each diver has a flashlight and two knives. One is the standard issue K-bar knife with an eight-inch blade, plus this smaller knife with a one-inch sharp blade.”
“In the event of an emergency, say you get the wrong gas mixture and pass out, your umbilical has a one-quarter-inch wire cable so we can pull you back.”
Emergency Return
Our instructor held up a one-foot-long, four-inch-wide metal cylinder. “Listen up, what I have here is your come-home bottle for emergency return. It’s filled with a premixed heliox gas for the depth of your dives. In the event of an emergency and your gas supply is cut off, this come-home bottle will automatically start releasing gas into your dive rig. It’s actuated by a small sensor when the pressure of the mixed gas falls off. At 400 feet, this emergency bottle would only last a few breaths. But because your dive rig is a semi-rebreather, if you go straight back, it should last long enough to get you back to your dive chamber.”
Diver asked, “But how long will it last?”
“It depends on the person, his lung capacity and what he is doing. If a diver is not moving, ten minutes. But if he is swimming, at best seven minutes.”
“In the event your mixed gas somehow gets blocked, you will know this by a red light that will come on. This red light is on the inside of your face mask. If this comes on, you immediately return to your dive chamber and inform diver control that you have a red light.”
Master Diver
The master diver came in and asked for a word with us. He was a sharp guy, not braggadocios, and knew the entire system. We trusted him.
“Regardless of the fact that you have all made saturation dives before, no one will be picked who has not made a saturation dive from the Halibut. On a previous training saturation dive on the Halibut, a diver who was saturation qualified became scared at depth, froze up, and had to be brought back in. Obviously, we are not going to experiment on location to find out who can and who cannot do this.”
“Also, most of you have only made saturation dives to 190 feet, but these practice dives will be to 420 feet. You will be in a diving chamber during this period and in the water for a few hours each day while at 420 feet. All this will prepare you and give you confidence for the actual mission.”
“With the three days at depth plus the four days of decompression, once you leave the sub you will not be able to get back in for seven days.”
Training Dives
I made two training SAT dives off the San Francisco coast. The first one was cut short because of a problem in our sub, so we rescheduled for a second SAT dive.
On this second SAT dive I entered the water with Nolan, who was lead diver, as he had made a SAT dive from the Halibut before. When we were both in the water at 420 feet, he reached out and shook my hand. As though I had officially qualified as part of the elite group that made these dives from the H-boat (the name the divers gave for the Halibut).
“Games”
During the four days of decompression on the training dives, one of the divers made comments about a small birthmark I have on my left leg. He claimed it looked darker in color to him and I should take care that it wasn’t the start of the bends.
The navy dive schools in Washington, DC, had told us it was possible to talk a person into believing he had the bends. By simply asking a diver how his joints felt or saying he looked pale, implying he had bubbles in his blood stream. There are some who would become overly sensitive and focus on how they felt and some would even rub a knee or elbow to make sure they had good blood circulation in their joints. A diver could then share with others his “concern” for your health and say “He was rubbing his knees.” If a saturation diver felt pain in his joints, real or imagined, and the SAT dive had to be altered to treat the diver, even if healed, his chance of being chosen for the dives in Siberia was over.
Diving Officer
The diving officer came to our class and explained who would be diving. “Guys, I’ve gone over all of your service records, and I am proud to be working with you.”
“We are scheduled to have two saturation dives at the site. I know you want to make these dives, that’s why you were chosen. However, only eight of you will enter the water. But all of you will be necessary to man the two control stations, which will run nonstop during the dives.”
“You in our dive team have been called daredevils, jockeying to make a top-secret dive. But remember, our purpose is to give our country the edge in the Cold War, not to inflate your egos.”
“So, do your best and have a team spirit. We’ll be evaluating each of you to determine who will be chosen.”
Williams, one of the divers asked, “When will we know who the eight of us are that will be making these dives?”
“We’ll let you know after we leave port for the mission, when we’re two weeks out to sea. You’re dismissed.”
As we left the class, Williams leaned over and said to me, “The reason they won’t tell us now is because if were not chosen they’re afraid some of us will pretend claustrophobia to get off the sub.”
“I’m not doing this to ride a sub, it’s boring, the only fun thing is making the dives.”
Chapter XVI
USS Halibut,
En Route to the Sea of Okhotsk
Surfacing at Night
While in the Pacific Ocean, Sonar Room detected an intermittent noise, metal against metal, and they knew the area of our sub it was coming from. They figured it had to be a metal toggle that was not properly secured. These toggles secured the sub to a pier when in port. In order to enter the Sea of Okhotsk, we needed to get through the Kuril Islands undetected, which we wouldn’t be able to do if making this noise.
Nuclear submarines remain submerged during their entire deployment. A submarine’s greatest advantage over other ships is its stealth. In all the time I was assigned to the Halibut, this was the only time I remember her surfacing while out in the ocean. But it was night, and there was a cloud cover, so satellites couldn’t see us.
I was fortunate to have been picked for a three-man team to go topside for a night surfacing of our sub. The other two were a lieutenant who was in charge and a boatswain’s mate who was given the job of securing the toggle.
Normally when topside on a submarine underway, there was a harness we wore with a safety line running along the deck. But this didn’t reach the area the boatswain’s mate needed to go, leaving him without this safety feature. My job was to cast out a long rope with a life preserver on it so in the event he fell over, he could grab on to it and the sub wouldn’t have to circle back and look for him. The boatswain’s mate was able to secure the toggle, and no life preserver was needed.
There was a brisk wind that night, but it felt good to breathe the fresh air. Though it was past midnight, the moon still shone through the clouds and lit up the ocean. What impresses me as I looked around in a 360-degree circle, was that as far as I could see in every direction, there was no land, just water. It made me feel insignificant and small compared to the vastness of the ocean. But I didn’t have long to contemplate the sea’s enormity; the task only took a few minutes. And once we were back inside our sub, the outer hatch was closed, and Halibut dove back under the waves.
“You also have your communication cable. This face mask has a headset and speaker for communications, which is connected to the helium speech descrambler in the dive chamber. You will need this because the helium will make you sound like Donald Duck—an effect brought on by the helium on your vocal cords.”
“Your diving rigs are semi-rebreathers, which means you rebreathe your mixed gas. Only one in six breaths will be a fresh supply of gas. This rig will scrub the carbon dioxide that you exhale, and the fresh gas mix will be supplied by your hoses. Our semi-rebreather also heats the mixed gas you breathe, as the freezing water makes the gas so cold it will give you a headache. This is even a bigger problem with helium because of its poor thermal properties, which takes heat away from your body.”
“There are pockets in this outer wet suit for your weights. Keep your buoyancy slightly negative. Also, each diver has a flashlight and two knives. One is the standard issue K-bar knife with an eight-inch blade, plus this smaller knife with a one-inch sharp blade.”
“In the event of an emergency, say you get the wrong gas mixture and pass out, your umbilical has a one-quarter-inch wire cable so we can pull you back.”
Emergency Return
Our instructor held up a one-foot-long, four-inch-wide metal cylinder. “Listen up, what I have here is your come-home bottle for emergency return. It’s filled with a premixed heliox gas for the depth of your dives. In the event of an emergency and your gas supply is cut off, this come-home bottle will automatically start releasing gas into your dive rig. It’s actuated by a small sensor when the pressure of the mixed gas falls off. At 400 feet, this emergency bottle would only last a few breaths. But because your dive rig is a semi-rebreather, if you go straight back, it should last long enough to get you back to your dive chamber.”
Diver asked, “But how long will it last?”
“It depends on the person, his lung capacity and what he is doing. If a diver is not moving, ten minutes. But if he is swimming, at best seven minutes.”
“In the event your mixed gas somehow gets blocked, you will know this by a red light that will come on. This red light is on the inside of your face mask. If this comes on, you immediately return to your dive chamber and inform diver control that you have a red light.”
Master Diver
The master diver came in and asked for a word with us. He was a sharp guy, not braggadocios, and knew the entire system. We trusted him.
“Regardless of the fact that you have all made saturation dives before, no one will be picked who has not made a saturation dive from the Halibut. On a previous training saturation dive on the Halibut, a diver who was saturation qualified became scared at depth, froze up, and had to be brought back in. Obviously, we are not going to experiment on location to find out who can and who cannot do this.”
“Also, most of you have only made saturation dives to 190 feet, but these practice dives will be to 420 feet. You will be in a diving chamber during this period and in the water for a few hours each day while at 420 feet. All this will prepare you and give you confidence for the actual mission.”
“With the three days at depth plus the four days of decompression, once you leave the sub you will not be able to get back in for seven days.”
Training Dives
I made two training SAT dives off the San Francisco coast. The first one was cut short because of a problem in our sub, so we rescheduled for a second SAT dive.
On this second SAT dive I entered the water with Nolan, who was lead diver, as he had made a SAT dive from the Halibut before. When we were both in the water at 420 feet, he reached out and shook my hand. As though I had officially qualified as part of the elite group that made these dives from the H-boat (the name the divers gave for the Halibut).
“Games”
During the four days of decompression on the training dives, one of the divers made comments about a small birthmark I have on my left leg. He claimed it looked darker in color to him and I should take care that it wasn’t the start of the bends.
The navy dive schools in Washington, DC, had told us it was possible to talk a person into believing he had the bends. By simply asking a diver how his joints felt or saying he looked pale, implying he had bubbles in his blood stream. There are some who would become overly sensitive and focus on how they felt and some would even rub a knee or elbow to make sure they had good blood circulation in their joints. A diver could then share with others his “concern” for your health and say “He was rubbing his knees.” If a saturation diver felt pain in his joints, real or imagined, and the SAT dive had to be altered to treat the diver, even if healed, his chance of being chosen for the dives in Siberia was over.
Diving Officer
The diving officer came to our class and explained who would be diving. “Guys, I’ve gone over all of your service records, and I am proud to be working with you.”
“We are scheduled to have two saturation dives at the site. I know you want to make these dives, that’s why you were chosen. However, only eight of you will enter the water. But all of you will be necessary to man the two control stations, which will run nonstop during the dives.”
“You in our dive team have been called daredevils, jockeying to make a top-secret dive. But remember, our purpose is to give our country the edge in the Cold War, not to inflate your egos.”
“So, do your best and have a team spirit. We’ll be evaluating each of you to determine who will be chosen.”
Williams, one of the divers asked, “When will we know who the eight of us are that will be making these dives?”
“We’ll let you know after we leave port for the mission, when we’re two weeks out to sea. You’re dismissed.”
As we left the class, Williams leaned over and said to me, “The reason they won’t tell us now is because if were not chosen they’re afraid some of us will pretend claustrophobia to get off the sub.”
“I’m not doing this to ride a sub, it’s boring, the only fun thing is making the dives.”
Chapter XVI
USS Halibut,
En Route to the Sea of Okhotsk
Surfacing at Night
While in the Pacific Ocean, Sonar Room detected an intermittent noise, metal against metal, and they knew the area of our sub it was coming from. They figured it had to be a metal toggle that was not properly secured. These toggles secured the sub to a pier when in port. In order to enter the Sea of Okhotsk, we needed to get through the Kuril Islands undetected, which we wouldn’t be able to do if making this noise.
Nuclear submarines remain submerged during their entire deployment. A submarine’s greatest advantage over other ships is its stealth. In all the time I was assigned to the Halibut, this was the only time I remember her surfacing while out in the ocean. But it was night, and there was a cloud cover, so satellites couldn’t see us.
I was fortunate to have been picked for a three-man team to go topside for a night surfacing of our sub. The other two were a lieutenant who was in charge and a boatswain’s mate who was given the job of securing the toggle.
Normally when topside on a submarine underway, there was a harness we wore with a safety line running along the deck. But this didn’t reach the area the boatswain’s mate needed to go, leaving him without this safety feature. My job was to cast out a long rope with a life preserver on it so in the event he fell over, he could grab on to it and the sub wouldn’t have to circle back and look for him. The boatswain’s mate was able to secure the toggle, and no life preserver was needed.
There was a brisk wind that night, but it felt good to breathe the fresh air. Though it was past midnight, the moon still shone through the clouds and lit up the ocean. What impresses me as I looked around in a 360-degree circle, was that as far as I could see in every direction, there was no land, just water. It made me feel insignificant and small compared to the vastness of the ocean. But I didn’t have long to contemplate the sea’s enormity; the task only took a few minutes. And once we were back inside our sub, the outer hatch was closed, and Halibut dove back under the waves.
From POND5, sub pictures of that time period.
The Galley
The galley, where our food was prepared, was incredibly small and almost always busy.
The Galley
The galley, where our food was prepared, was incredibly small and almost always busy.
Sailors were waiting in line to get into the chow hall (also called mess hall). A new sailor, named Tom, came in thorough the hatch, holding his head and obviously in pain.
“You OK?” a submariner asked.
“I just found another valve. Am I bleeding?”
We couldn’t help but laugh as he stuck his forehead out for us to look at.
“Let me see,” said one of the divers, still laughing. “You’ll live.” And he added, “It took me a week to learn where all the valves were.”
“But why do they have to put these valves in the passageways sticking out like that?” Tom asked. “It’s not like we have wide passageways.” He then went into the “head” (bathrooms on ships) to look in the stainless-steel mirror at his forehead.
A submariner raised his voice, “Hey, Tom, we’re having steak and lobster for dinner.”
“Ha-ha” was the new sailor’s response.
“It’s true,” said an NSA analyst. “Once a month they feed us steak and lobster in the same meal. There is no recreation on a sub, so the only morale booster is the food.”
Tom stuck his head out from the water closet, still holding his forehead, to see if we were serious, and said, “Well, if that’s true, it will be nice, but whoever thought of those powdered eggs needs to be shot.”
The cook hollered out, “Make a hole!”
When this was heard, people tried to get out of the way, but it wasn’t always possible. These passageways were, in some cases, not even wide enough to walk down normally, and one had to go through them sideways. Some were lined with bunk beds on both sides. Sometimes a sailor’s foot or elbow stuck out into the narrow passageway. And when someone wanted to get around you in a passageway, you were shoved and pushed into a wall.
“You OK?” a submariner asked.
“I just found another valve. Am I bleeding?”
We couldn’t help but laugh as he stuck his forehead out for us to look at.
“Let me see,” said one of the divers, still laughing. “You’ll live.” And he added, “It took me a week to learn where all the valves were.”
“But why do they have to put these valves in the passageways sticking out like that?” Tom asked. “It’s not like we have wide passageways.” He then went into the “head” (bathrooms on ships) to look in the stainless-steel mirror at his forehead.
A submariner raised his voice, “Hey, Tom, we’re having steak and lobster for dinner.”
“Ha-ha” was the new sailor’s response.
“It’s true,” said an NSA analyst. “Once a month they feed us steak and lobster in the same meal. There is no recreation on a sub, so the only morale booster is the food.”
Tom stuck his head out from the water closet, still holding his forehead, to see if we were serious, and said, “Well, if that’s true, it will be nice, but whoever thought of those powdered eggs needs to be shot.”
The cook hollered out, “Make a hole!”
When this was heard, people tried to get out of the way, but it wasn’t always possible. These passageways were, in some cases, not even wide enough to walk down normally, and one had to go through them sideways. Some were lined with bunk beds on both sides. Sometimes a sailor’s foot or elbow stuck out into the narrow passageway. And when someone wanted to get around you in a passageway, you were shoved and pushed into a wall.
From POND5 sub pictures of that time period.
Three-Bunks High
There is, however, advantages to submarines: They serve the best food and our sub was the only place in the navy I had been where they brought the food to you. One may have to wait in line to get into the chow hall and be seated, but there is no waiting in line for the food. There is so little room to stand in that your food is brought to you.
Chow Hall
Submariners had entered the chow hall and were sitting down at their tables.
Tom asked, “Hey, Spook. Why is your room off limits to us?”
NSA analyst grinning, said, “It’s classified.”
“Hmm,” said Tom.
A submariner entered the chow hall and hollered, “Everyone has to get their film badge checked today. Be sure and see Doc.”
“What?” asked Tom.
“That is the little badge they make us wear on our belts. It checks the dosage of radiation we receive from the reactor.” explained a submariner.
Radio Man entered the chow hall and hollered, “Family grams for Robert Thompson and Tom Bentley.”
Tom Bentley, the new sailor, scrambled out from his seat to grab his family gram. But then asked, “Where is the rest of my gram?”
Radio Man said, “These family grams are limited to 25 words and only one a week.”
“But I can respond back, right?”
Radio Man laughed, “Sure, when we get back in port in three months.” (Though we could receive satellite and radio transmissions, we couldn’t send out any signal or we risked giving away our position. These family grams were also censored. The navy thought it best that we received no discouraging news while out to sea.)
NSA analyst asked, “Tom, is that letter from your girl?”
“Yes!” Tom said smiling.
“You going to share that with us?” asked the NSA analyst.
“Sorry guys, it’s classified!”
Chapter XVII
Encouragement from Christians
I was a weak Christian, needing encouragement just to show up at the Bible study. I wasn’t trusting God with my decisions and was too concerned about what other people thought. Thankfully, God had His faithful witnesses on our sub, who were more concerned about the Lord.
The first time I went to a prayer meeting, I was sitting at a table in the chow hall, when a Christian named James, also called Chief, came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. “A few of us want to meet for prayer at 1900 on the forward port side below the forward torpedo room. Hope to see you there, and bring your Bible.” I nodded my head, but I was such a weak Christian, I didn’t want others to see me go. Still, when the time came, I put my Bible inside my jumpsuit (everyone on the sub wore these) and I made my way forward through the narrow passageways and up to a hatch doorway that I needed to get through. But it was blocked by two sailors.
On the Halibut (before all the electronic games), entertainment was mostly thinking of ways to play practical jokes on someone. And a favorite pastime was to find someone to poke fun at. The two sailors who blocked the hatch doorway wanted to talk. But I was in a hurry and trying to figure out some way to leave without their asking where I was going. But they kept on talking without giving me a chance to speak. I finally caught on that they were doing it intentionally because, somehow, they had figured out where I was going.
“I’ve got to go,” I said.
“Well, don’t be late for your prayer time!” They got a laugh out of it.
“Yeah, and I’ll pray for you,” I responded as I pulled out my Bible that I had “hid” in my jumpsuit, and I went to find the prayer group.
Those who made the decision on who would make the dives did not go to either the prayer group, or our Sunday service. And I was concerned if this would affect their decision. But I was wrong, it didn’t affect their decision, still, at the time I worried about it.
Making the dives had become more important to me than living for the Lord. I was basing all my decisions around making the dive, it had become an idol to me. But God had Christians who were pulling me in another direction.
At the prayer group there were five men crammed into a small space. I was surprised to see a couple of them, and no doubt they were surprised to see me. Still, all of us seemed to enjoy the fellowship, and then they shared a few prayer requests. Chief asked for prayer that God would use us to shine for him and reach others for the Lord. One of the submariners asked for special prayer for his daughter and wife.
I could see that for the submariners and divers who were married, being away from their wives and children weighed heavily on them, and I knew they wished to be home with their families. But I was single and didn’t have to endure being away from my family. Now, as a husband and father, I understand better what they were going through. The military is necessary, and though it’s not easy for anyone to be out to sea or at a base for long periods of time, still it’s hardest on those who are married.
One of the sailors said, “Chief, there is something I was hoping you could help me with. I have always thought that if I become a Christian, I couldn’t go to war, or spy for my country. What do you think? Doesn’t the Bible say we are not to kill?”
Chief said, “Those are certainly good questions. I do know that both Moses and Joshua sent spies into Canaan. Where the Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill’, it’s talking about murder. We cannot take the law into our own hands. I am certainly for peace, but if an enemy invades and starts killing and raping, then the main purpose of our government is to protect us. You can find that in Romans chapter 13.”
“The Bible has many heroes, such as Samson killing the Philistines, which he did when ‘the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him’ or David who killed Goliath. There is a passage in Hebrews 11:33–34 that says, ‘Who through faith subdued kingdoms … out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.’”
Christians Helping Christians
The world can discourage you. Christ sent his followers out two by two. Christians should always seek out the encouragement and fellowship of other believers. This is one of the reasons we have church (Hebrews 10:25).
I was with Wayne, a diver friend, on our way to a Sunday service, when Bill, a submariner, asked us where we were going. I told him and asked if he wanted to come. He smiled and said, “No, I read books!” The thought being, he was too smart to believe in God. I didn’t like his comment, but I wasn’t sure how to respond. We left and went through the hatch, and Wayne said to me, “I didn’t know Bill could read.” I started to laugh and kept laughing most of the way through the passage ways. I’m sure there are better ways to handle such things, still my friend had lifted my spirit.
There was a man on our sub named Davison, but I called him the Preacher, he gave the messages for our Sunday services. Both he and James (Chief) were greatly used of God to encourage me, as well as other Christians. Unlike me, they based all their decisions around the Lord and His Word. Though they had their dreams, they love the Lord more. Their happiness was in pleasing Him, not in getting their way.
The first time I met Chief was in a work detail on the Halibut, and after working with him for only five minutes he asked, “Garry, are you a Christian?”
I had trusted Christ a few months before being assigned to the Halibut and said, in almost a whisper, “Yes.”
But Chief said out loud, “Praise the Lord!”
I looked around to see who might have heard, wishing he hadn’t advertised it. But he was genuinely happy he had found another Christian.
Chief explained a lot about God and His Word, and I always had questions for him. Of the many pastors I have known and teachers at Bible college that God has used in my life, the two Christians I owe the most to were not in the ministry. One was Chief and the other was the young man on the Seabee bus who had the courage to witness to me.
I admired Chief’s faith and vision to reach others. Chief was good at organizing things like the prayer time, and he formed a weekly Bible study, also he and Preacher started the Sunday services on our sub. I looked up to Chief because he was especially good at dealing with anyone who tried to poke fun at him—something I wasn’t good at. If someone tried to make fun of him, he saw the humor in it, laughed, and then turned it around on the one who started it. And that person would run off. One sailor jokingly asked, “Chief, being how you like to preach to us, if someone dies on the Halibut, will you do their funeral?”
Chief laughed, “Sure, and I’ll do yours for free.”
I was in the Aft Torpedo Room when James came in through the hatch. “Hi Chief. I have something I want to ask you about.” We found a place to sit down and I said to him, “You said that God was in control. So why couldn’t I play sports when I was a kid? I wanted too, but we lived too far from town to go to practice, because after practice the school bus didn’t run. When I asked my mom about it, she said I should just stay after school, then go to practice, and that she would talk my dad into picking me up. Well, at practice they put me in right field because I didn’t know what I was doing. Hardly anyone ever hits a ball out there anyway. You just have to stay awake. Still, it didn’t matter to me, because I was playing baseball.”
“Now my dad, when he would get upset, would slam the door on his pickup truck. I was standing out in right field when I heard something that sounded familiar. As I turned towards this sound, my dad hollered out in front of everybody. ‘Garry get over here!’ I didn’t say goodbye to the coach or anyone. I just ran over to my dad’s truck, and all the way home he was upset. When we arrived home, my dad went into the kitchen and told my mom what he thought of her idea of him picking me up. But I walked down the hall to my bedroom and laid down on my bed, and thought, Other kids get to play sports, why can’t I play sports?”
“You’re upset because you couldn’t play baseball?” Chief asked.
“No. I went out the next day and went fishing. But that’s the point—it didn’t work out as I had planned, as also some other things, so why? I’m not upset. I just don’t understand why I couldn’t do that.”
Chief responded, “I’m not sure, but I do know God doesn’t have to give an account to us. (Job 33:13) And ‘all things work together for good to them that love God.’” (Romans 8:28)
“Chief, my motive in asking you is because I want to make this dive. I don’t want to be blocked from it like I was from baseball. There is nothing else I have ever wanted to do as much as this. And God is both the one who can let me do it or keep me from it. Is this just my pride and I need to accept whatever comes my way?”
“Garry, sometimes we are just not ready for things, or God has a better plan. But sometimes our desires come from God. It was Joseph in the Bible who boasted to his older brothers he would rule over them. And they were upset at him for it. But it was God who gave Joseph that dream, even if he was prideful. Maybe your desire is from the Lord. I would ask God why you want to do this.”
Chapter XVIII
KGB Headquarters, Moscow
Lieutenant Volkov enters the basement section of the KGB headquarters and walks up to a long counter with three staff personnel. Most people in this area are wearing work clothes and either receive or place orders for equipment.
One of the ladies at the counter asks, “How may I help you?”
“I understand that a Mr. Khodjakov works in this area.”
The lady at the counter points to a room where Mr. Khodjakov’s workshop is.
Lieutenant Volkov opens the door, and Mr. Khodjakov, who is sitting at his desk, recognizes him and stands up. He is surprised and somewhat startled that Lieutenant Volkov has come down to the basement to see him. The room has a large desk but is more of a workshop than an office, with charts and short wooden benches with electrical equipment.
Lieutenant Volkov introduces himself, and Mr. Khodjakov says, “I have seen you in the cafeteria a few times. Do you not work on the sixth floor?” (The section where spies are debriefed.)
“Yes, that’s right. Mr. Khodjakov I need to ask you a few questions about wiretaps. I understand you’re an expert on this sort of thing.”
“It’s my job, but what specifically?”
“Well, for starters, tell me how you tap someone’s telephone.”
“All one has to do is cut into the phone line and splice a wire to it. It’s child’s play.”
“But, Mr. Khodjakov, what about cables? Tapping into a cable.”
“Oh, let’s sit down. Yes, communication cables can be more difficult because they most often have a number of wires in them with multiple conversations. But one can still find what he wants; it just takes longer.”
“What about underwater cables?” asks Lieutenant Volkov.
“You mean like transatlantic cables?”
“Yes.”
“So, you don’t want to tap a person, but a country?”
Lieutenant Volkov only smiles.
“Well, I have never tried this. My first thought is the salt water would short out the cable the moment you cut into it.”
Lieutenant Volkov insists, “But is there any way you know of to tap a cable or wire without cutting into it?”
Mr. Khodjakov pauses and says, “Well, there is such a way; it’s called the inductive mode. When a wire, or in this case, cable, gives off, from its electrical current, an electromagnetic field. We can pick this up by another wire that is wrapped around it. But we don’t like to use it, because it’s harder to hook up and to take off. Requiring several wraps around a cable to get a good readout. And unless this type of tap was right by a repeater, it wouldn’t likely get a strong enough signal through the cable.”
“Very good!” says Lieutenant Volkov. “It is possible, therefore, to do a tap on an underwater cable without cutting into it and shorting it out.”
“Yes, but again, only if the taps are by the repeater that amplifies the signal and sends it out, so the signal will be strong enough.”
“Thank you, Mr. Khodjakov. You have been most helpful.”
Lieutenant Volkov, in a rush, steps out of the room and passes the long countertop and personnel who are taking orders. He doesn’t notice Mr. Orlov, the security expert, who is standing at the counter. Mr. Orlov is talking to one of the ladies there about his new promotion making him the fifth inline to be the head of the KGB. But Mr. Orlov’s presence there is not a coincidence, and he is not smiling when he sees Lieutenant Volkov leave Mr. Khodjakov’s workshop.
Naval Reference Book
Lieutenant Volkov is in his office and has been looking at drawings of the inductive type of wiretaps. He also has a copy of Jane’s Fighting Ships, a public reference book with pictures of all the different types of warships, including the USS Halibut. And Volkov is particularly interested in the DSRV “Simulator” on the fantail of the Halibut.
Lieutenant Volkov receives a call from the diving office on the Kamchatka Peninsula. “I have found what you asked for. Our cable on the seabed of the Sea of Okhotsk runs for several hundred kilometers. These repeaters you were interested in are on our cable every six kilometers. The cable is eight centimeters in diameter, and the repeaters themselves are three meters long by 30 centimeters wide. These repeaters pick up the signal, amplify it, and send it out to the next repeater and so on, till, through the cable, it reaches the far side of the Sea of Okhotsk.”
“But, Lieutenant Volkov, it couldn’t be as you have thought—divers leaving a submarine to tap our cable. For none of these repeaters would be in a suitable depth for divers. There are some in shallow water, but too shallow for a submarine to operate in, and the others are too deep for divers.”
Volkov asks, “How deep?”
“According to the chart, the only possible one is 125 meters on the seafloor—far too deep for a working dive.”
“Look, I am not a diver,” says Volkov, “but how deep can our divers go?”
“Not that deep, not on air—it would kill them. And if our divers breathed a mixed gas that would support them, then literally days of decompression in a chamber. The Americans had something like this called SEALAB, but it didn’t turn out so well for them, with the death of one of their divers. I was under the impression they had ended it.”
“Last year I made a request to Moscow for us to develop such a deep-dive system. But they said unless I could give a practical purpose for one, they wouldn’t allocate the money.”
Lieutenant Volkov frowns when he hears this and says, “Perhaps the Americans have found a practical purpose for it.”
“Well, if they have, then can’t you just pull the cable up and see if anything is hanging off of it? If this inductive mode is what they are using, they wouldn’t be able to take it off quickly.”
“I’ll make a recommendation that we do just that,” answers Lieutenant Volkov, and he hangs up.
Chapter XIX
First & Secondary Diver Control
On the tail end of Halibut was the DSRV simulator, tubular shaped and approximately eight feet in diameter by 50 feet long. The DSRV (Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel) was designed to rescue sailors from downed submarines (though most of the ocean is below the crush depth of submarines). There were many articles circulated for the public about the DSRV program. However, our DSRV wasn’t used for submarine rescue but was bolted to our sub and had no motor. It was labeled a “simulator” to give the impression we were testing it. But its real purpose was to hide our diving chamber.
Three-Bunks High
There is, however, advantages to submarines: They serve the best food and our sub was the only place in the navy I had been where they brought the food to you. One may have to wait in line to get into the chow hall and be seated, but there is no waiting in line for the food. There is so little room to stand in that your food is brought to you.
Chow Hall
Submariners had entered the chow hall and were sitting down at their tables.
Tom asked, “Hey, Spook. Why is your room off limits to us?”
NSA analyst grinning, said, “It’s classified.”
“Hmm,” said Tom.
A submariner entered the chow hall and hollered, “Everyone has to get their film badge checked today. Be sure and see Doc.”
“What?” asked Tom.
“That is the little badge they make us wear on our belts. It checks the dosage of radiation we receive from the reactor.” explained a submariner.
Radio Man entered the chow hall and hollered, “Family grams for Robert Thompson and Tom Bentley.”
Tom Bentley, the new sailor, scrambled out from his seat to grab his family gram. But then asked, “Where is the rest of my gram?”
Radio Man said, “These family grams are limited to 25 words and only one a week.”
“But I can respond back, right?”
Radio Man laughed, “Sure, when we get back in port in three months.” (Though we could receive satellite and radio transmissions, we couldn’t send out any signal or we risked giving away our position. These family grams were also censored. The navy thought it best that we received no discouraging news while out to sea.)
NSA analyst asked, “Tom, is that letter from your girl?”
“Yes!” Tom said smiling.
“You going to share that with us?” asked the NSA analyst.
“Sorry guys, it’s classified!”
Chapter XVII
Encouragement from Christians
I was a weak Christian, needing encouragement just to show up at the Bible study. I wasn’t trusting God with my decisions and was too concerned about what other people thought. Thankfully, God had His faithful witnesses on our sub, who were more concerned about the Lord.
The first time I went to a prayer meeting, I was sitting at a table in the chow hall, when a Christian named James, also called Chief, came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. “A few of us want to meet for prayer at 1900 on the forward port side below the forward torpedo room. Hope to see you there, and bring your Bible.” I nodded my head, but I was such a weak Christian, I didn’t want others to see me go. Still, when the time came, I put my Bible inside my jumpsuit (everyone on the sub wore these) and I made my way forward through the narrow passageways and up to a hatch doorway that I needed to get through. But it was blocked by two sailors.
On the Halibut (before all the electronic games), entertainment was mostly thinking of ways to play practical jokes on someone. And a favorite pastime was to find someone to poke fun at. The two sailors who blocked the hatch doorway wanted to talk. But I was in a hurry and trying to figure out some way to leave without their asking where I was going. But they kept on talking without giving me a chance to speak. I finally caught on that they were doing it intentionally because, somehow, they had figured out where I was going.
“I’ve got to go,” I said.
“Well, don’t be late for your prayer time!” They got a laugh out of it.
“Yeah, and I’ll pray for you,” I responded as I pulled out my Bible that I had “hid” in my jumpsuit, and I went to find the prayer group.
Those who made the decision on who would make the dives did not go to either the prayer group, or our Sunday service. And I was concerned if this would affect their decision. But I was wrong, it didn’t affect their decision, still, at the time I worried about it.
Making the dives had become more important to me than living for the Lord. I was basing all my decisions around making the dive, it had become an idol to me. But God had Christians who were pulling me in another direction.
At the prayer group there were five men crammed into a small space. I was surprised to see a couple of them, and no doubt they were surprised to see me. Still, all of us seemed to enjoy the fellowship, and then they shared a few prayer requests. Chief asked for prayer that God would use us to shine for him and reach others for the Lord. One of the submariners asked for special prayer for his daughter and wife.
I could see that for the submariners and divers who were married, being away from their wives and children weighed heavily on them, and I knew they wished to be home with their families. But I was single and didn’t have to endure being away from my family. Now, as a husband and father, I understand better what they were going through. The military is necessary, and though it’s not easy for anyone to be out to sea or at a base for long periods of time, still it’s hardest on those who are married.
One of the sailors said, “Chief, there is something I was hoping you could help me with. I have always thought that if I become a Christian, I couldn’t go to war, or spy for my country. What do you think? Doesn’t the Bible say we are not to kill?”
Chief said, “Those are certainly good questions. I do know that both Moses and Joshua sent spies into Canaan. Where the Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill’, it’s talking about murder. We cannot take the law into our own hands. I am certainly for peace, but if an enemy invades and starts killing and raping, then the main purpose of our government is to protect us. You can find that in Romans chapter 13.”
“The Bible has many heroes, such as Samson killing the Philistines, which he did when ‘the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him’ or David who killed Goliath. There is a passage in Hebrews 11:33–34 that says, ‘Who through faith subdued kingdoms … out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.’”
Christians Helping Christians
The world can discourage you. Christ sent his followers out two by two. Christians should always seek out the encouragement and fellowship of other believers. This is one of the reasons we have church (Hebrews 10:25).
I was with Wayne, a diver friend, on our way to a Sunday service, when Bill, a submariner, asked us where we were going. I told him and asked if he wanted to come. He smiled and said, “No, I read books!” The thought being, he was too smart to believe in God. I didn’t like his comment, but I wasn’t sure how to respond. We left and went through the hatch, and Wayne said to me, “I didn’t know Bill could read.” I started to laugh and kept laughing most of the way through the passage ways. I’m sure there are better ways to handle such things, still my friend had lifted my spirit.
There was a man on our sub named Davison, but I called him the Preacher, he gave the messages for our Sunday services. Both he and James (Chief) were greatly used of God to encourage me, as well as other Christians. Unlike me, they based all their decisions around the Lord and His Word. Though they had their dreams, they love the Lord more. Their happiness was in pleasing Him, not in getting their way.
The first time I met Chief was in a work detail on the Halibut, and after working with him for only five minutes he asked, “Garry, are you a Christian?”
I had trusted Christ a few months before being assigned to the Halibut and said, in almost a whisper, “Yes.”
But Chief said out loud, “Praise the Lord!”
I looked around to see who might have heard, wishing he hadn’t advertised it. But he was genuinely happy he had found another Christian.
Chief explained a lot about God and His Word, and I always had questions for him. Of the many pastors I have known and teachers at Bible college that God has used in my life, the two Christians I owe the most to were not in the ministry. One was Chief and the other was the young man on the Seabee bus who had the courage to witness to me.
I admired Chief’s faith and vision to reach others. Chief was good at organizing things like the prayer time, and he formed a weekly Bible study, also he and Preacher started the Sunday services on our sub. I looked up to Chief because he was especially good at dealing with anyone who tried to poke fun at him—something I wasn’t good at. If someone tried to make fun of him, he saw the humor in it, laughed, and then turned it around on the one who started it. And that person would run off. One sailor jokingly asked, “Chief, being how you like to preach to us, if someone dies on the Halibut, will you do their funeral?”
Chief laughed, “Sure, and I’ll do yours for free.”
I was in the Aft Torpedo Room when James came in through the hatch. “Hi Chief. I have something I want to ask you about.” We found a place to sit down and I said to him, “You said that God was in control. So why couldn’t I play sports when I was a kid? I wanted too, but we lived too far from town to go to practice, because after practice the school bus didn’t run. When I asked my mom about it, she said I should just stay after school, then go to practice, and that she would talk my dad into picking me up. Well, at practice they put me in right field because I didn’t know what I was doing. Hardly anyone ever hits a ball out there anyway. You just have to stay awake. Still, it didn’t matter to me, because I was playing baseball.”
“Now my dad, when he would get upset, would slam the door on his pickup truck. I was standing out in right field when I heard something that sounded familiar. As I turned towards this sound, my dad hollered out in front of everybody. ‘Garry get over here!’ I didn’t say goodbye to the coach or anyone. I just ran over to my dad’s truck, and all the way home he was upset. When we arrived home, my dad went into the kitchen and told my mom what he thought of her idea of him picking me up. But I walked down the hall to my bedroom and laid down on my bed, and thought, Other kids get to play sports, why can’t I play sports?”
“You’re upset because you couldn’t play baseball?” Chief asked.
“No. I went out the next day and went fishing. But that’s the point—it didn’t work out as I had planned, as also some other things, so why? I’m not upset. I just don’t understand why I couldn’t do that.”
Chief responded, “I’m not sure, but I do know God doesn’t have to give an account to us. (Job 33:13) And ‘all things work together for good to them that love God.’” (Romans 8:28)
“Chief, my motive in asking you is because I want to make this dive. I don’t want to be blocked from it like I was from baseball. There is nothing else I have ever wanted to do as much as this. And God is both the one who can let me do it or keep me from it. Is this just my pride and I need to accept whatever comes my way?”
“Garry, sometimes we are just not ready for things, or God has a better plan. But sometimes our desires come from God. It was Joseph in the Bible who boasted to his older brothers he would rule over them. And they were upset at him for it. But it was God who gave Joseph that dream, even if he was prideful. Maybe your desire is from the Lord. I would ask God why you want to do this.”
Chapter XVIII
KGB Headquarters, Moscow
Lieutenant Volkov enters the basement section of the KGB headquarters and walks up to a long counter with three staff personnel. Most people in this area are wearing work clothes and either receive or place orders for equipment.
One of the ladies at the counter asks, “How may I help you?”
“I understand that a Mr. Khodjakov works in this area.”
The lady at the counter points to a room where Mr. Khodjakov’s workshop is.
Lieutenant Volkov opens the door, and Mr. Khodjakov, who is sitting at his desk, recognizes him and stands up. He is surprised and somewhat startled that Lieutenant Volkov has come down to the basement to see him. The room has a large desk but is more of a workshop than an office, with charts and short wooden benches with electrical equipment.
Lieutenant Volkov introduces himself, and Mr. Khodjakov says, “I have seen you in the cafeteria a few times. Do you not work on the sixth floor?” (The section where spies are debriefed.)
“Yes, that’s right. Mr. Khodjakov I need to ask you a few questions about wiretaps. I understand you’re an expert on this sort of thing.”
“It’s my job, but what specifically?”
“Well, for starters, tell me how you tap someone’s telephone.”
“All one has to do is cut into the phone line and splice a wire to it. It’s child’s play.”
“But, Mr. Khodjakov, what about cables? Tapping into a cable.”
“Oh, let’s sit down. Yes, communication cables can be more difficult because they most often have a number of wires in them with multiple conversations. But one can still find what he wants; it just takes longer.”
“What about underwater cables?” asks Lieutenant Volkov.
“You mean like transatlantic cables?”
“Yes.”
“So, you don’t want to tap a person, but a country?”
Lieutenant Volkov only smiles.
“Well, I have never tried this. My first thought is the salt water would short out the cable the moment you cut into it.”
Lieutenant Volkov insists, “But is there any way you know of to tap a cable or wire without cutting into it?”
Mr. Khodjakov pauses and says, “Well, there is such a way; it’s called the inductive mode. When a wire, or in this case, cable, gives off, from its electrical current, an electromagnetic field. We can pick this up by another wire that is wrapped around it. But we don’t like to use it, because it’s harder to hook up and to take off. Requiring several wraps around a cable to get a good readout. And unless this type of tap was right by a repeater, it wouldn’t likely get a strong enough signal through the cable.”
“Very good!” says Lieutenant Volkov. “It is possible, therefore, to do a tap on an underwater cable without cutting into it and shorting it out.”
“Yes, but again, only if the taps are by the repeater that amplifies the signal and sends it out, so the signal will be strong enough.”
“Thank you, Mr. Khodjakov. You have been most helpful.”
Lieutenant Volkov, in a rush, steps out of the room and passes the long countertop and personnel who are taking orders. He doesn’t notice Mr. Orlov, the security expert, who is standing at the counter. Mr. Orlov is talking to one of the ladies there about his new promotion making him the fifth inline to be the head of the KGB. But Mr. Orlov’s presence there is not a coincidence, and he is not smiling when he sees Lieutenant Volkov leave Mr. Khodjakov’s workshop.
Naval Reference Book
Lieutenant Volkov is in his office and has been looking at drawings of the inductive type of wiretaps. He also has a copy of Jane’s Fighting Ships, a public reference book with pictures of all the different types of warships, including the USS Halibut. And Volkov is particularly interested in the DSRV “Simulator” on the fantail of the Halibut.
Lieutenant Volkov receives a call from the diving office on the Kamchatka Peninsula. “I have found what you asked for. Our cable on the seabed of the Sea of Okhotsk runs for several hundred kilometers. These repeaters you were interested in are on our cable every six kilometers. The cable is eight centimeters in diameter, and the repeaters themselves are three meters long by 30 centimeters wide. These repeaters pick up the signal, amplify it, and send it out to the next repeater and so on, till, through the cable, it reaches the far side of the Sea of Okhotsk.”
“But, Lieutenant Volkov, it couldn’t be as you have thought—divers leaving a submarine to tap our cable. For none of these repeaters would be in a suitable depth for divers. There are some in shallow water, but too shallow for a submarine to operate in, and the others are too deep for divers.”
Volkov asks, “How deep?”
“According to the chart, the only possible one is 125 meters on the seafloor—far too deep for a working dive.”
“Look, I am not a diver,” says Volkov, “but how deep can our divers go?”
“Not that deep, not on air—it would kill them. And if our divers breathed a mixed gas that would support them, then literally days of decompression in a chamber. The Americans had something like this called SEALAB, but it didn’t turn out so well for them, with the death of one of their divers. I was under the impression they had ended it.”
“Last year I made a request to Moscow for us to develop such a deep-dive system. But they said unless I could give a practical purpose for one, they wouldn’t allocate the money.”
Lieutenant Volkov frowns when he hears this and says, “Perhaps the Americans have found a practical purpose for it.”
“Well, if they have, then can’t you just pull the cable up and see if anything is hanging off of it? If this inductive mode is what they are using, they wouldn’t be able to take it off quickly.”
“I’ll make a recommendation that we do just that,” answers Lieutenant Volkov, and he hangs up.
Chapter XIX
First & Secondary Diver Control
On the tail end of Halibut was the DSRV simulator, tubular shaped and approximately eight feet in diameter by 50 feet long. The DSRV (Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel) was designed to rescue sailors from downed submarines (though most of the ocean is below the crush depth of submarines). There were many articles circulated for the public about the DSRV program. However, our DSRV wasn’t used for submarine rescue but was bolted to our sub and had no motor. It was labeled a “simulator” to give the impression we were testing it. But its real purpose was to hide our diving chamber.
The diving chamber, also called a habitat or hyperbaric chamber, from which the dives were made, was in the DSRV simulator (hereafter referred to as the DSRV). It was situated directly next to the secondary control room and had space for four divers. We slept, ate, took sponge baths, and made our dives from this small three-room, tube-shaped diving chamber. We couldn’t completely stand up in it because the ceiling was too low. The first room, called the “outer lock,” was for “pressing down” more divers or a medical officer in the event of an emergency. The second room, called the “inner lock,” was for sleeping and housed a toilet and sink, and the third, called “dive station,” was the area from where divers prepared to enter the water. Each compartment of the habitat was separated by round metal doors more than one-inch thick.
The chamber itself was made from aluminum and other metals that wouldn’t spark. Even one spark in a chamber under pressure could cause an explosion or, at the least, a fatal fire. All the clothing and other materials inside our habitat, including our towels, were made from an itchy brown fire-resistant material.
The third room, dive station, where we entered the water, was open to the sea on the bottom part of it. At 400 feet, the pressure on one’s body is 12 times (or 12 atmospheres) greater than on the surface. The inside of a submarine is kept at one atmosphere (what we have on the surface), so if a door were opened to the sea at a depth of 400 feet, including a door on the bottom of a submarine, the seawater would rush in faster than any fire hydrant and flood the sub. However, our diving chamber was kept at the same pressure as the outside water—in our case 12 times greater than on the surface—and the room from which we entered the water was pressurized and this kept the water from entering in.
This extra pressure in our diving chamber meant divers were breathing 12 times as much gas in one breath as one would on the surface. All this “extra” gas went into our lungs and was forced into our bloodstream. This is why we had long days of decompression. So the built-up helium in our bloodstream had time to come out and we would not have the bends.
Main Diver Control
The saturation dives were manned from two control rooms. Main Diver Control was by the CONN, where the master diver, diving officer, and medical officer monitored the dives. During the dives, we communicated with the Main Diver Control by referring to it as “Topside,” even though it was not on the surface but underwater.
The chamber itself was made from aluminum and other metals that wouldn’t spark. Even one spark in a chamber under pressure could cause an explosion or, at the least, a fatal fire. All the clothing and other materials inside our habitat, including our towels, were made from an itchy brown fire-resistant material.
The third room, dive station, where we entered the water, was open to the sea on the bottom part of it. At 400 feet, the pressure on one’s body is 12 times (or 12 atmospheres) greater than on the surface. The inside of a submarine is kept at one atmosphere (what we have on the surface), so if a door were opened to the sea at a depth of 400 feet, including a door on the bottom of a submarine, the seawater would rush in faster than any fire hydrant and flood the sub. However, our diving chamber was kept at the same pressure as the outside water—in our case 12 times greater than on the surface—and the room from which we entered the water was pressurized and this kept the water from entering in.
This extra pressure in our diving chamber meant divers were breathing 12 times as much gas in one breath as one would on the surface. All this “extra” gas went into our lungs and was forced into our bloodstream. This is why we had long days of decompression. So the built-up helium in our bloodstream had time to come out and we would not have the bends.
Main Diver Control
The saturation dives were manned from two control rooms. Main Diver Control was by the CONN, where the master diver, diving officer, and medical officer monitored the dives. During the dives, we communicated with the Main Diver Control by referring to it as “Topside,” even though it was not on the surface but underwater.
It will be hard for anyone who has not been on a submarine before to imagine just how little space there is. But to add 21 divers, NSA analyst, project officers, plus their food for three months, and then to add display and computer rooms, plus huge mixed-gas cylinders, meant that something had to go. Therefore, the torpedoes had been taken out of the aft torpedo room to make room for our diving equipment.
Secondary Diver Control
The location of the small secondary control room was inside the DSRV (depicted in the last drawing), from which we controlled the gas mixtures and depth of the dive chamber. We entered both the secondary control room and dive chamber by climbing up a ladder from the aft torpedo room.
Secondary Diver Control
The location of the small secondary control room was inside the DSRV (depicted in the last drawing), from which we controlled the gas mixtures and depth of the dive chamber. We entered both the secondary control room and dive chamber by climbing up a ladder from the aft torpedo room.
US Navy Saturation Control Room
Alamy/Military Collection
This control room looked like the inside of a space capsule, and I loved it! It seated two people and contained more than 60 valves, plus pressure gauges for the different gasses, and depth gauges for the pressure inside the different compartments in the habitat. This cramped control room housed about two dozen small lights on a display console that blinked if there was a system failure or problem, such as sudden loss of gas pressure or the need to change a gas supply. In addition, two TV monitors were squeezed into this space, as the navy monitored most everything we did on camera, both inside the diving chamber and, when the diving officer wanted, outside in the water (explained farther on).
We manned this control station nonstop during the dives, pulling four-hour watches. It was a lengthy procedure to start up the secondary control room and have it ready for the chamber dives. It took a couple of hours to get it online, requiring more than 60 steps that had to be in the right order. The navy didn’t want this left to our memories. Therefore, we followed a check-off list. One diver would read out loud each step while the other diver would open the valve or verify a setting and holler “Check.”
There was a very small window between the diving chamber and this small control room. It was made from Plexiglas and was only three inches in diameter by three inches thick, to withstand the extreme pressures. And besides using the intercom to speak to the divers inside the chamber, you could knock on the metal door to get their attention and then look inside the habitat to see what they were doing.
In addition, there was a small (two-by-one-foot) chamber between the secondary control room and the diver habitat. Those in the secondary control room would use this to convey the food and dishes back and forth to the divers.
One reason I liked this small two-man control room was because it was private. In our sub, there was almost no place you could go where others were not right there by you. And it was the divers’ own place; no one else was allowed. When the saturation dives were not going on, I would sometimes go up there just to be alone. You could also spend time with divers and fellowship with them.
There were no personal radios or record players on board the Halibut, but someone had brought an eight-track stereo and left it in this small control room. It only had one tape, and the main song was “Yellow Bird, Up High in Banana Tree.” (I am laughing out loud while I write this, but that was the song, and the rest of the songs were downhill from there.) And we would play it over and over again, because there was nothing else to listen to. In submarines you are always surrounded by steel, and this song made me think of being on an island somewhere with my girl, palm trees, and lots of sunshine. It was the only way to get my mind off the monotony of being underwater for three months.
Chapter XX
Something Puzzling
At a briefing we were told the navy found the Soviet cable by searching up and down the shore of the Kamchatka Peninsula, where major Soviet military bases were known to be. They had looked for a sign on the sea coast (through a periscope) that said in Russian, “No mooring in this area.” Because Russia, as all countries that lay cables in the sea, put up such signs where their cables enter the water.
After a briefing about the operation, I met Rich in the aft torpedo room to play chess.
“Garry, you been thinking about who is going to be picked? You know, for the dives,” Rich asked.
“Yes.”
“Hey, it’s your move,” Rich said.
We talked about our hopes of being chosen to be one of the eight divers, and then he said, “You seem preoccupied.”
“I am. There is something. Something I don’t understand about that briefing we had today and the cable being *shielded. They said the purpose of shielding a cable was so no one could make recordings from it, not even by how we plan to do it. And though this should have stopped us, it doesn’t. Are you getting this? Their whole cable is shielded except where we are going to make the taps.”
“The story we were told last year was that our guys figured this all out because of what they saw through one of our spy satellites. The Russians brought up their cable because, apparently, it must have had a defect in their amplifier. Anyhow, the Russians replaced it with a new section of cable and a new amplifier. And that even though we knew the rest of the cable was shielded, we waited till they replaced this one section, thinking ‘perhaps’ the Russians didn’t bother to shield this section.”
“So?” said Rich as he moved his bishop to threaten my rook.
“Well why were we told they found this cable by searching up and down the Russian coast for a sign that read, ‘No mooring’? If we originally saw by a satellite a section of the cable replaced, why look for a mooring sign? This sub could find anything if given the satellite coordinates. And the same spy satellite that saw the Russians replace a section of their cable must have seen them when they first laid the entire cable. We have known all along the cable was there. Perhaps this is why they change their stories, about seeing a sign on the shore. To avoid explaining why they waited to tap the cable till one section was replaced?”
“But they were right.” said Rich. “The rest of the cable is shielded, and this one section was replaced, and it’s not shielded. You should play chess, not detective. Are you going to move?”
I pushed a pawn and said, “But, Rich, doesn’t it all seem a little too coincidental to you? We are to believe that the Russians who knew they needed a shielded cable, made one, but forgot to use it? And it just happens to be a section of the cable that is at a depth our sub can operate at and we divers can make with the capabilities we have?”
“What are you saying?” asked Rich.
“Was looking for a ‘No mooring” sign only a cover story? Did we turn someone? Is someone in Russia working for us and facilitating all this so we could finally get real information 24/7?”
Rich said, “Maybe they simply ran out of shielded cables.” Rich smiled. “I got your rook!”
*(Undersea cables at that time had copper wires in the center, then hard white plastic covering the wires, and then rubber insulation around that. I have heard that shielding a cable can be done by covering the hard white plastic with wire mesh [or a pipe] that is then grounded back at the point of transmission so that the electromagnetic field that the cable gives off will go to ground instead of to the outside of the cable.)
Chapter XXI
Professionalism at Sea
CONN
While aboard the Halibut in transit to our dive station, we divers had little to do and were allowed to work with submariners on whatever their responsibilities might be. I chose to help the man who worked on the charts and maps. Our position was corrected hourly by reports from transit satellites (similar to GPS) that we received from an antenna our sub floated to the surface. The reason I chose this job was partly because I thought it would be fun to see our sub’s progress through the ocean and into the area of the dives, and partly because I liked being around the CONN.
The center of activity while going to and from the dive station was the CONN (the sub’s main control room). In the Halibut, as in most submarines, the CONN was on the upper level, in the midsection of the sub and right under the superstructure.
Communications and orders to the entire submarine, including any orders for the weapons control system, were given from the CONN. This included torpedoes and countermeasures, such as motorized decoys and canister bubbles, used to confuse enemy torpedoes.
Alamy/Military Collection
This control room looked like the inside of a space capsule, and I loved it! It seated two people and contained more than 60 valves, plus pressure gauges for the different gasses, and depth gauges for the pressure inside the different compartments in the habitat. This cramped control room housed about two dozen small lights on a display console that blinked if there was a system failure or problem, such as sudden loss of gas pressure or the need to change a gas supply. In addition, two TV monitors were squeezed into this space, as the navy monitored most everything we did on camera, both inside the diving chamber and, when the diving officer wanted, outside in the water (explained farther on).
We manned this control station nonstop during the dives, pulling four-hour watches. It was a lengthy procedure to start up the secondary control room and have it ready for the chamber dives. It took a couple of hours to get it online, requiring more than 60 steps that had to be in the right order. The navy didn’t want this left to our memories. Therefore, we followed a check-off list. One diver would read out loud each step while the other diver would open the valve or verify a setting and holler “Check.”
There was a very small window between the diving chamber and this small control room. It was made from Plexiglas and was only three inches in diameter by three inches thick, to withstand the extreme pressures. And besides using the intercom to speak to the divers inside the chamber, you could knock on the metal door to get their attention and then look inside the habitat to see what they were doing.
In addition, there was a small (two-by-one-foot) chamber between the secondary control room and the diver habitat. Those in the secondary control room would use this to convey the food and dishes back and forth to the divers.
One reason I liked this small two-man control room was because it was private. In our sub, there was almost no place you could go where others were not right there by you. And it was the divers’ own place; no one else was allowed. When the saturation dives were not going on, I would sometimes go up there just to be alone. You could also spend time with divers and fellowship with them.
There were no personal radios or record players on board the Halibut, but someone had brought an eight-track stereo and left it in this small control room. It only had one tape, and the main song was “Yellow Bird, Up High in Banana Tree.” (I am laughing out loud while I write this, but that was the song, and the rest of the songs were downhill from there.) And we would play it over and over again, because there was nothing else to listen to. In submarines you are always surrounded by steel, and this song made me think of being on an island somewhere with my girl, palm trees, and lots of sunshine. It was the only way to get my mind off the monotony of being underwater for three months.
Chapter XX
Something Puzzling
At a briefing we were told the navy found the Soviet cable by searching up and down the shore of the Kamchatka Peninsula, where major Soviet military bases were known to be. They had looked for a sign on the sea coast (through a periscope) that said in Russian, “No mooring in this area.” Because Russia, as all countries that lay cables in the sea, put up such signs where their cables enter the water.
After a briefing about the operation, I met Rich in the aft torpedo room to play chess.
“Garry, you been thinking about who is going to be picked? You know, for the dives,” Rich asked.
“Yes.”
“Hey, it’s your move,” Rich said.
We talked about our hopes of being chosen to be one of the eight divers, and then he said, “You seem preoccupied.”
“I am. There is something. Something I don’t understand about that briefing we had today and the cable being *shielded. They said the purpose of shielding a cable was so no one could make recordings from it, not even by how we plan to do it. And though this should have stopped us, it doesn’t. Are you getting this? Their whole cable is shielded except where we are going to make the taps.”
“The story we were told last year was that our guys figured this all out because of what they saw through one of our spy satellites. The Russians brought up their cable because, apparently, it must have had a defect in their amplifier. Anyhow, the Russians replaced it with a new section of cable and a new amplifier. And that even though we knew the rest of the cable was shielded, we waited till they replaced this one section, thinking ‘perhaps’ the Russians didn’t bother to shield this section.”
“So?” said Rich as he moved his bishop to threaten my rook.
“Well why were we told they found this cable by searching up and down the Russian coast for a sign that read, ‘No mooring’? If we originally saw by a satellite a section of the cable replaced, why look for a mooring sign? This sub could find anything if given the satellite coordinates. And the same spy satellite that saw the Russians replace a section of their cable must have seen them when they first laid the entire cable. We have known all along the cable was there. Perhaps this is why they change their stories, about seeing a sign on the shore. To avoid explaining why they waited to tap the cable till one section was replaced?”
“But they were right.” said Rich. “The rest of the cable is shielded, and this one section was replaced, and it’s not shielded. You should play chess, not detective. Are you going to move?”
I pushed a pawn and said, “But, Rich, doesn’t it all seem a little too coincidental to you? We are to believe that the Russians who knew they needed a shielded cable, made one, but forgot to use it? And it just happens to be a section of the cable that is at a depth our sub can operate at and we divers can make with the capabilities we have?”
“What are you saying?” asked Rich.
“Was looking for a ‘No mooring” sign only a cover story? Did we turn someone? Is someone in Russia working for us and facilitating all this so we could finally get real information 24/7?”
Rich said, “Maybe they simply ran out of shielded cables.” Rich smiled. “I got your rook!”
*(Undersea cables at that time had copper wires in the center, then hard white plastic covering the wires, and then rubber insulation around that. I have heard that shielding a cable can be done by covering the hard white plastic with wire mesh [or a pipe] that is then grounded back at the point of transmission so that the electromagnetic field that the cable gives off will go to ground instead of to the outside of the cable.)
Chapter XXI
Professionalism at Sea
CONN
While aboard the Halibut in transit to our dive station, we divers had little to do and were allowed to work with submariners on whatever their responsibilities might be. I chose to help the man who worked on the charts and maps. Our position was corrected hourly by reports from transit satellites (similar to GPS) that we received from an antenna our sub floated to the surface. The reason I chose this job was partly because I thought it would be fun to see our sub’s progress through the ocean and into the area of the dives, and partly because I liked being around the CONN.
The center of activity while going to and from the dive station was the CONN (the sub’s main control room). In the Halibut, as in most submarines, the CONN was on the upper level, in the midsection of the sub and right under the superstructure.
Communications and orders to the entire submarine, including any orders for the weapons control system, were given from the CONN. This included torpedoes and countermeasures, such as motorized decoys and canister bubbles, used to confuse enemy torpedoes.
Pond5 Torpedo tubes Argument in Aft Torpedo room, from the film GOD & SPIES
Torpedo Room
I was told the forward torpedo room had one of the tubes loaded with a nonexplosive torpedo that was a countermeasure. When launched it would maneuver and sound like our sub, even picking up any pings from an enemy vessel, amplifying them, and sending them back. This way an adversary would believe they were following a sub rather than a torpedo—in hopes they would depth charge the countermeasure instead of the Halibut. It’s “nice” to have these things, but they are considered last-ditch efforts, and had they ever been used, then everyone on the Halibut would have been praying these would work.
Next to the CONN were two submariners who manned the many valves for ballast and dives. Next to them were three men who were involved in the steering of our sub. The DO (dive officer, sometimes a chief) sat directly behind and a little above the stern planes man, who had a steering wheel that controlled the depth of the sub, and the rudder planes man, also with a steering wheel, which controlled our direction. Then came the man I helped, who worked on the maps and charts showing our position.
Stern and Rudder Steering Wheels
The CONN itself had a raised platform about a foot higher than the surrounding area, with two periscopes, and at least one officer on duty.
All of this and much more was crammed into a very small space, in or around the CONN. I have visited four other submarines and have seen their CONNs, but nothing impressed me as much as the CONN on the Halibut.
I was told the forward torpedo room had one of the tubes loaded with a nonexplosive torpedo that was a countermeasure. When launched it would maneuver and sound like our sub, even picking up any pings from an enemy vessel, amplifying them, and sending them back. This way an adversary would believe they were following a sub rather than a torpedo—in hopes they would depth charge the countermeasure instead of the Halibut. It’s “nice” to have these things, but they are considered last-ditch efforts, and had they ever been used, then everyone on the Halibut would have been praying these would work.
Next to the CONN were two submariners who manned the many valves for ballast and dives. Next to them were three men who were involved in the steering of our sub. The DO (dive officer, sometimes a chief) sat directly behind and a little above the stern planes man, who had a steering wheel that controlled the depth of the sub, and the rudder planes man, also with a steering wheel, which controlled our direction. Then came the man I helped, who worked on the maps and charts showing our position.
Stern and Rudder Steering Wheels
The CONN itself had a raised platform about a foot higher than the surrounding area, with two periscopes, and at least one officer on duty.
All of this and much more was crammed into a very small space, in or around the CONN. I have visited four other submarines and have seen their CONNs, but nothing impressed me as much as the CONN on the Halibut.
OVERHEAD VIEW OF CONN
The orders for speed, depth, and course changes were also given from the CONN by the OOD (officer on deck). And these had to be repeated by those who received them, and, once achieved, the appropriate response was given back to the CONN.
Only the CONN would “rig for red” every night.
Anyone walking into this area of the CONN would have known immediately that things were different. The tone of the orders being given and the professionalism in which they were carried out were striking, with only limited small talk allowed. Everything at the CONN followed a certain procedure, which was carried out smoothly and efficiently.
I was helping the chart man when there was the 04:00 (a.m.) change of officers at the CONN. The officer coming off duty said with a loud voice, “Lieutenant Smith has the CONN!” And this was routinely recorded in the ship’s log. Speaking just above a whisper, I asked the chart man, “You want me to get our hourly position from the satellite?” He started to answer but was interrupted by the intercom.
“CONN, Sonar. We have a surface contact bearing zero niner five.”
“Sonar, CONN. Aye.”
The chart man said, “You don’t want to disturb sonar right now. Wait until they classify their new contact.”
“Dive officer, CONN. Come right. Make your course zero five zero.”
A watch station man arrived.
“CONN, Watch. May I step up on the CONN?”
“Watch, CONN. Permission granted.”
“Sonar, CONN. Have you classified the contact?”
“CONN, Sonar. That’s a negative.”
“Dive officer, CONN. Make our depth 60 feet” (periscope depth).
Sonar
Right next to the CONN was the sonar room. Water is a better conductor of sound than air, and, in fact, the speed of sound travels four times faster in water than in air. Only a thermocline layer, where the water temperature below it is different from the water temperature above it, will block the sound of ships and subs.
CIA Release
“The U.S. subs also compiled ‘signatures’ of Soviet submarines, the noise they emit as they move underwater.” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120051-2)
Because of the need to maintain silence so a sub cannot be detected, submarines use passive sonar. Active sonar, with its loud pings, will let you know where an enemy vessel is, but also lets the enemy know where you are. Instead, subs only use passive sonar, listening for any sounds in the water. These sounds are then feed into a computer that has been uploaded with the recordings of “voice signature” of naval vessels, a sort of fingerprint for ships and submarines. These include many from the Russian navy. I was told it was possible to tell not only whose vessel it was but if it was a merchant ship or naval vessel, when it was constructed, and if we could confirm the voice signature, even the name of ship.
CIA Release
“U.S. intelligence-gathering project that used submarines that penetrated Soviet harbor security and photographed the bottom of Soviet submarines.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100100069-5C)
Though thankfully not common, underwater collisions with foreign submarines have been reported in this dangerous game of cat and mouse that submarines have sometimes played. Sometimes a sub will follow an enemy sub or even come right underneath it.
The area directly behind the sub is blind to sonar, because of the noise made by the sub’s propeller. This sound is called cavitation, caused by the little bubbles that make a popping sound as they roll off the edge of the propeller blades. Thus, passive sonar, which only listens for sounds, cannot hear what is directly behind a sub, as the propeller’s own noise will mask any other sound that is behind it.
To help a submarine detect what is directly behind it, side-look sonar is used to see what is hidden behind the propeller noise. The sub will change course slightly (some subs make a complete circle) and then “look” (listen) behind it for any possible followers. Halibut was equipped with side-look sonar, but if a trailing sub stops its propellers, it won’t make any sound and thus evade detection.
(The Halibut didn’t tow a sonar listening device. It’s possible to attach passive sonar to a cable that is let out from the back end of a submarine. These cables can trail for hundreds of yards behind a sub and listen for any approaching foreign submarine.)
Strange as it may seem to anyone who is not familiar with this, but even the style of a submarine’s individual propeller blades is most often classified—whether they can change the degree of angle, or even the shape of the blades. And when in dry dock, the propellers are even covered by tarps so a satellite cannot see them.
Killer Whales
I was up by the CONN helping with the navigation map when the chart man asked me to get the hourly satellite report. The sonar room was only four short steps from where I was helping: everything in that area of the CONN was close together. The sonar room itself was partitioned off from the rest of the CONN by a thin sheet-metal wall. There were two sonar men in the room when I entered, and one was recalibrating a passive-sonar screen. The main sonar technician had headphones on and was turning a dial, listening intently.
“Satellite report?” I said to the assistant.
The assistant reached over and handed me a paper with the coordinates of our sub’s position and then said, “We have killer whales on sonar. They have been trying to follow us for the last few minutes, but they can’t keep up. I guess they can hear us and are curious as to who we are. At any rate, we are hundreds of feet under them.”
“Do you hear them very often?” I asked.
“Not much in the middle of the ocean, but they have been heard on location where the dives will be.” The sonar technician grinned.
“Seriously?” I asked.
He nodded yes.
Killer whales are usually thought of as harmless and playful, entertaining the public at marine parks. Today we are encouraged to call them “orcas.” But they have attacked humans, sometimes fatally, including their trainers. They make certain sounds, such as clicking, splashing, whistles, and more, all picked up by our sonar, but they can be silent and dive deeper than our saturation dives. Mature male killer whales average 23 feet in length, and mammals that size could hurt you without even meaning to. Our diving umbilical cables partially float above the seafloor and might look tempting to a killer whale to play with, bite on, or jerk—with a diver still attached.
Chapter XXII
The Mole
Mr. Orlov, the KGB security expert, is at a store buying flowers for his wife, and a man comes up beside him. They don’t acknowledge each other’s presence, but the other man, who is an American agent, begins speaking to Mr. Orlov without looking at him. “We were hoping you would have had that new cable replaced at the northern port.”
Mr. Orlov glances around but says nothing.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“I have a new situation,” says Mr. Orlov.
“Yes, we have heard about your new promotion; it may be useful in the future.”
“I am not talking about that. There is a KGB lieutenant who works with spies, and he is asking questions about the cable.”
The American agent looks concerned but insists, “We have more subs waiting. We put the money in your account, but you haven’t followed through on your part. We need the cable replaced at this new location.”
The sales lady looks in their direction. Mr. Orlov turns his back to her and says in a whisper, “Right now is not the best time with this KGB lieutenant breathing down my neck.”
With this, the agent, who is still not looking at Mr. Orlov, takes a different tone and bumps him with his shoulder. “Nothing is going to be compromised, is it?”
Mr. Orlov then deliberately knocks over a vase. The American agent tries to catch it, but the vase shatters on the floor. Mr. Orlov raises his voice. “Sir, you should be more careful. If you keep bumping into things no one will help you.”
The sales lady is looking at them. Mr. Orlov bends down as if to help clean up the pieces, as does the agent, and says, “Put double the amount in my foreign account, and I’ll send out another unshielded cable for the new location.”
Both men then stand up and the American agent looks directly at Mr. Orlov, “We had a deal!”
“And I have a new situation.”
Mr. Orlov then walks away, leaving the American agent standing there and upset. He stops at the checkout counter and pays for his large bouquet.
The sales lady says, “I’m sure your wife will like these.”
Chapter XXIII
God is Working
I was in the secondary control room listening to the eight-track stereo, when James (Chief) came up the ladder from the aft torpedo room.
James asked, “How did it go with your dad? You said you were going to try and witness to him before we left port.”
“Not so well. The last time I was home, I was on the roof of my parents’ house, helping my dad nail down some shingles. I mustered up all my courage and said, ‘Dad, have you thought any more about being saved?’”
“You know what he did? He stood up and took the hammer that was in his hand and bounced it off the roof. The hammer spun through the air all the way to the ground.”
“And he said, ‘Yes I have thought about it!’”
“And, as usual, he started cussing. I couldn’t get a word in edgeways.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Chief said.
“Then just before our sub left port, I called my dad on the phone. Something he said gave me a crack in the door, and I knew I had better go through it because I didn’t get opportunities like that from him.”
“‘Dad,’ I said, ‘you know God loves you …’ He immediately became upset and said, ‘Son, why do you always bother me about this?’”
“God gave me the right thing to say, ‘When you love someone enough, you will tell them what they need to hear.’ Then he hung up on me.”
Chief said, “I’ll be in prayer for him.”
“Thanks. Hey, James, what do you think my chances are of being chosen to be one of the eight divers?”
“There are definitely more than eight of you who want to make these dives.”
“How do you know?”
“I talked to the diving officer about it. He mentioned that you had also asked.”
“So others have ‘also’ asked?”
“Of course, Garry. The competition for the project dives is always there.
“I doubt they will pick anyone over 30, so I am not in the running. And it’s fine; I have done this before. Just keep praying about it.”
Worshiping Under the Waves
Davison whom I called the Preacher, taught a Bible study, and on Sunday he preached to us. I had never heard preaching before. It wasn’t some sermonizing from a denominational textbook, but standing up and declaring God’s Word, and it stirred my heart. Teaching is giving out information but preaching has urgency in it. Teaching tells you how to do something but preaching makes you want to do it. Though teaching the Bible is also of our Lord, God chose preaching as one of His main ways to grab hold of people (I Corinthians 1:21).
Though usually we had about 30 men meet together, at least one Sunday services we had forty! Incredible when you consider that, at any given time, a third of the men had to be on duty station. We met in the chow hall between meals, as no other place could hold us. When we sang, if the hatches were open, it went through the whole sub. I asked an officer who came regularly to the services if this was normal, and he said that even on an aircraft carrier with thousands of sailors, he had never seen more than eight Christians meeting together.
We were having our Sunday service, and after we sang, Chief asked one of the submariners if he would read a passage from Psalm 107:23–32.
“They that go down to the sea in ships,
that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord,
and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth,
and raiseth the stormy wind,
which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths:
their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro,
and stagger like a drunken man,
and are at their wits' end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,
and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm,
so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet;
so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the Lord
for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works
to the children of men!
Let them exalt him also in the congregation
of the people, and praise him in the
assembly of the elders.”
When the submariner finished reading the passage he asked, “Would anyone like to thank or praise the Lord for something?”
Two of the sailors in the service made comments. One said he had recently trusted Christ. Another shared that though he didn’t know how a certain problem in his life would turn out, he knew the Lord was going to solve it. God was working on our sub. He had called two of us from the Halibut to be missionaries and start churches in other countries.
Then Chief asked Davison to speak. Davison was in his late 20s, dedicated to the Lord, and I liked listening to his messages.
Preacher
“Glad you’re all here. God is doing something on this sub. And He can hear the prayers of men under the sea. I think of Jonah who prayed when he was in the bell of a great fish, and God heard and answered his prayer.” (Jonah 2:1-10)
“I have a question for you. How do we get to heaven? Does man save himself or does God save us? Do we clean up ourselves or do we trust God’s Son to save us and He cleans us up?”
“Someday we’ll all stand in front of a holy God. And He won’t ask us what church we go to, but He will know if we have trusted His Son Jesus Christ to save us or not. There are many good things, and we should do them all, but things cannot forgive sins, only Jesus Christ can. God’s Word says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast’, you’ll find that in Ephesians 2:8–9. Salvation is ‘the gift of God,’ not the gift of a church or the gift of a minister, but it belongs to God. And if you want it, you will need to go to Him to get it.”
“We don’t deserve it or work for it, but we humble ourselves and ask Him for it. Man’s way gives the glory to man, by his earning his own salvation, but in God’s way, only Jesus will receive the glory. Because our faith is in Him and what He has done for us, not in ourselves and what we have done. That’s why the verse said, ‘Not of works, lest any man should boast.’ God doesn’t want to listen to us boast to Him about how great we are; He already knows we’re sinners.”
“Let me ask you all a question. How many of you have ever gone skydiving? Please raise your hand if you have. Only one of you. Well, that means even though most of us believe a parachute works, still only one of us has ever trusted a parachute.”
“For a moment, let the parachute represent Jesus Christ, and the plane represent our religion and good works. To trust the parachute, you have to let go of the plane, and to trust Jesus Christ, you have to let go of your religion, ordinances of the church and good works. Certainly these are good things and you should do them but not put your faith in them to get you to Heaven. Only God’s Son can save our souls.”
“When people say, ‘I believe in God, and if I’m good, I’ll go to Heaven,’ they’re not trusting the person of Jesus Christ Who suffered and died for their sins but the good things they have done. Let go of the plane!”
Chapter XXIV
Submarines Rendezvous
One reason for the high interest in our operation was the audacious nature in which it was done—with not one person risking his neck, but the crews of two nuclear submarine meeting in Soviet territorial waters.
The orders for speed, depth, and course changes were also given from the CONN by the OOD (officer on deck). And these had to be repeated by those who received them, and, once achieved, the appropriate response was given back to the CONN.
Only the CONN would “rig for red” every night.
Anyone walking into this area of the CONN would have known immediately that things were different. The tone of the orders being given and the professionalism in which they were carried out were striking, with only limited small talk allowed. Everything at the CONN followed a certain procedure, which was carried out smoothly and efficiently.
I was helping the chart man when there was the 04:00 (a.m.) change of officers at the CONN. The officer coming off duty said with a loud voice, “Lieutenant Smith has the CONN!” And this was routinely recorded in the ship’s log. Speaking just above a whisper, I asked the chart man, “You want me to get our hourly position from the satellite?” He started to answer but was interrupted by the intercom.
“CONN, Sonar. We have a surface contact bearing zero niner five.”
“Sonar, CONN. Aye.”
The chart man said, “You don’t want to disturb sonar right now. Wait until they classify their new contact.”
“Dive officer, CONN. Come right. Make your course zero five zero.”
A watch station man arrived.
“CONN, Watch. May I step up on the CONN?”
“Watch, CONN. Permission granted.”
“Sonar, CONN. Have you classified the contact?”
“CONN, Sonar. That’s a negative.”
“Dive officer, CONN. Make our depth 60 feet” (periscope depth).
Sonar
Right next to the CONN was the sonar room. Water is a better conductor of sound than air, and, in fact, the speed of sound travels four times faster in water than in air. Only a thermocline layer, where the water temperature below it is different from the water temperature above it, will block the sound of ships and subs.
CIA Release
“The U.S. subs also compiled ‘signatures’ of Soviet submarines, the noise they emit as they move underwater.” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120051-2)
Because of the need to maintain silence so a sub cannot be detected, submarines use passive sonar. Active sonar, with its loud pings, will let you know where an enemy vessel is, but also lets the enemy know where you are. Instead, subs only use passive sonar, listening for any sounds in the water. These sounds are then feed into a computer that has been uploaded with the recordings of “voice signature” of naval vessels, a sort of fingerprint for ships and submarines. These include many from the Russian navy. I was told it was possible to tell not only whose vessel it was but if it was a merchant ship or naval vessel, when it was constructed, and if we could confirm the voice signature, even the name of ship.
CIA Release
“U.S. intelligence-gathering project that used submarines that penetrated Soviet harbor security and photographed the bottom of Soviet submarines.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100100069-5C)
Though thankfully not common, underwater collisions with foreign submarines have been reported in this dangerous game of cat and mouse that submarines have sometimes played. Sometimes a sub will follow an enemy sub or even come right underneath it.
The area directly behind the sub is blind to sonar, because of the noise made by the sub’s propeller. This sound is called cavitation, caused by the little bubbles that make a popping sound as they roll off the edge of the propeller blades. Thus, passive sonar, which only listens for sounds, cannot hear what is directly behind a sub, as the propeller’s own noise will mask any other sound that is behind it.
To help a submarine detect what is directly behind it, side-look sonar is used to see what is hidden behind the propeller noise. The sub will change course slightly (some subs make a complete circle) and then “look” (listen) behind it for any possible followers. Halibut was equipped with side-look sonar, but if a trailing sub stops its propellers, it won’t make any sound and thus evade detection.
(The Halibut didn’t tow a sonar listening device. It’s possible to attach passive sonar to a cable that is let out from the back end of a submarine. These cables can trail for hundreds of yards behind a sub and listen for any approaching foreign submarine.)
Strange as it may seem to anyone who is not familiar with this, but even the style of a submarine’s individual propeller blades is most often classified—whether they can change the degree of angle, or even the shape of the blades. And when in dry dock, the propellers are even covered by tarps so a satellite cannot see them.
Killer Whales
I was up by the CONN helping with the navigation map when the chart man asked me to get the hourly satellite report. The sonar room was only four short steps from where I was helping: everything in that area of the CONN was close together. The sonar room itself was partitioned off from the rest of the CONN by a thin sheet-metal wall. There were two sonar men in the room when I entered, and one was recalibrating a passive-sonar screen. The main sonar technician had headphones on and was turning a dial, listening intently.
“Satellite report?” I said to the assistant.
The assistant reached over and handed me a paper with the coordinates of our sub’s position and then said, “We have killer whales on sonar. They have been trying to follow us for the last few minutes, but they can’t keep up. I guess they can hear us and are curious as to who we are. At any rate, we are hundreds of feet under them.”
“Do you hear them very often?” I asked.
“Not much in the middle of the ocean, but they have been heard on location where the dives will be.” The sonar technician grinned.
“Seriously?” I asked.
He nodded yes.
Killer whales are usually thought of as harmless and playful, entertaining the public at marine parks. Today we are encouraged to call them “orcas.” But they have attacked humans, sometimes fatally, including their trainers. They make certain sounds, such as clicking, splashing, whistles, and more, all picked up by our sonar, but they can be silent and dive deeper than our saturation dives. Mature male killer whales average 23 feet in length, and mammals that size could hurt you without even meaning to. Our diving umbilical cables partially float above the seafloor and might look tempting to a killer whale to play with, bite on, or jerk—with a diver still attached.
Chapter XXII
The Mole
Mr. Orlov, the KGB security expert, is at a store buying flowers for his wife, and a man comes up beside him. They don’t acknowledge each other’s presence, but the other man, who is an American agent, begins speaking to Mr. Orlov without looking at him. “We were hoping you would have had that new cable replaced at the northern port.”
Mr. Orlov glances around but says nothing.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“I have a new situation,” says Mr. Orlov.
“Yes, we have heard about your new promotion; it may be useful in the future.”
“I am not talking about that. There is a KGB lieutenant who works with spies, and he is asking questions about the cable.”
The American agent looks concerned but insists, “We have more subs waiting. We put the money in your account, but you haven’t followed through on your part. We need the cable replaced at this new location.”
The sales lady looks in their direction. Mr. Orlov turns his back to her and says in a whisper, “Right now is not the best time with this KGB lieutenant breathing down my neck.”
With this, the agent, who is still not looking at Mr. Orlov, takes a different tone and bumps him with his shoulder. “Nothing is going to be compromised, is it?”
Mr. Orlov then deliberately knocks over a vase. The American agent tries to catch it, but the vase shatters on the floor. Mr. Orlov raises his voice. “Sir, you should be more careful. If you keep bumping into things no one will help you.”
The sales lady is looking at them. Mr. Orlov bends down as if to help clean up the pieces, as does the agent, and says, “Put double the amount in my foreign account, and I’ll send out another unshielded cable for the new location.”
Both men then stand up and the American agent looks directly at Mr. Orlov, “We had a deal!”
“And I have a new situation.”
Mr. Orlov then walks away, leaving the American agent standing there and upset. He stops at the checkout counter and pays for his large bouquet.
The sales lady says, “I’m sure your wife will like these.”
Chapter XXIII
God is Working
I was in the secondary control room listening to the eight-track stereo, when James (Chief) came up the ladder from the aft torpedo room.
James asked, “How did it go with your dad? You said you were going to try and witness to him before we left port.”
“Not so well. The last time I was home, I was on the roof of my parents’ house, helping my dad nail down some shingles. I mustered up all my courage and said, ‘Dad, have you thought any more about being saved?’”
“You know what he did? He stood up and took the hammer that was in his hand and bounced it off the roof. The hammer spun through the air all the way to the ground.”
“And he said, ‘Yes I have thought about it!’”
“And, as usual, he started cussing. I couldn’t get a word in edgeways.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Chief said.
“Then just before our sub left port, I called my dad on the phone. Something he said gave me a crack in the door, and I knew I had better go through it because I didn’t get opportunities like that from him.”
“‘Dad,’ I said, ‘you know God loves you …’ He immediately became upset and said, ‘Son, why do you always bother me about this?’”
“God gave me the right thing to say, ‘When you love someone enough, you will tell them what they need to hear.’ Then he hung up on me.”
Chief said, “I’ll be in prayer for him.”
“Thanks. Hey, James, what do you think my chances are of being chosen to be one of the eight divers?”
“There are definitely more than eight of you who want to make these dives.”
“How do you know?”
“I talked to the diving officer about it. He mentioned that you had also asked.”
“So others have ‘also’ asked?”
“Of course, Garry. The competition for the project dives is always there.
“I doubt they will pick anyone over 30, so I am not in the running. And it’s fine; I have done this before. Just keep praying about it.”
Worshiping Under the Waves
Davison whom I called the Preacher, taught a Bible study, and on Sunday he preached to us. I had never heard preaching before. It wasn’t some sermonizing from a denominational textbook, but standing up and declaring God’s Word, and it stirred my heart. Teaching is giving out information but preaching has urgency in it. Teaching tells you how to do something but preaching makes you want to do it. Though teaching the Bible is also of our Lord, God chose preaching as one of His main ways to grab hold of people (I Corinthians 1:21).
Though usually we had about 30 men meet together, at least one Sunday services we had forty! Incredible when you consider that, at any given time, a third of the men had to be on duty station. We met in the chow hall between meals, as no other place could hold us. When we sang, if the hatches were open, it went through the whole sub. I asked an officer who came regularly to the services if this was normal, and he said that even on an aircraft carrier with thousands of sailors, he had never seen more than eight Christians meeting together.
We were having our Sunday service, and after we sang, Chief asked one of the submariners if he would read a passage from Psalm 107:23–32.
“They that go down to the sea in ships,
that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord,
and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth,
and raiseth the stormy wind,
which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths:
their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro,
and stagger like a drunken man,
and are at their wits' end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,
and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm,
so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet;
so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the Lord
for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works
to the children of men!
Let them exalt him also in the congregation
of the people, and praise him in the
assembly of the elders.”
When the submariner finished reading the passage he asked, “Would anyone like to thank or praise the Lord for something?”
Two of the sailors in the service made comments. One said he had recently trusted Christ. Another shared that though he didn’t know how a certain problem in his life would turn out, he knew the Lord was going to solve it. God was working on our sub. He had called two of us from the Halibut to be missionaries and start churches in other countries.
Then Chief asked Davison to speak. Davison was in his late 20s, dedicated to the Lord, and I liked listening to his messages.
Preacher
“Glad you’re all here. God is doing something on this sub. And He can hear the prayers of men under the sea. I think of Jonah who prayed when he was in the bell of a great fish, and God heard and answered his prayer.” (Jonah 2:1-10)
“I have a question for you. How do we get to heaven? Does man save himself or does God save us? Do we clean up ourselves or do we trust God’s Son to save us and He cleans us up?”
“Someday we’ll all stand in front of a holy God. And He won’t ask us what church we go to, but He will know if we have trusted His Son Jesus Christ to save us or not. There are many good things, and we should do them all, but things cannot forgive sins, only Jesus Christ can. God’s Word says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast’, you’ll find that in Ephesians 2:8–9. Salvation is ‘the gift of God,’ not the gift of a church or the gift of a minister, but it belongs to God. And if you want it, you will need to go to Him to get it.”
“We don’t deserve it or work for it, but we humble ourselves and ask Him for it. Man’s way gives the glory to man, by his earning his own salvation, but in God’s way, only Jesus will receive the glory. Because our faith is in Him and what He has done for us, not in ourselves and what we have done. That’s why the verse said, ‘Not of works, lest any man should boast.’ God doesn’t want to listen to us boast to Him about how great we are; He already knows we’re sinners.”
“Let me ask you all a question. How many of you have ever gone skydiving? Please raise your hand if you have. Only one of you. Well, that means even though most of us believe a parachute works, still only one of us has ever trusted a parachute.”
“For a moment, let the parachute represent Jesus Christ, and the plane represent our religion and good works. To trust the parachute, you have to let go of the plane, and to trust Jesus Christ, you have to let go of your religion, ordinances of the church and good works. Certainly these are good things and you should do them but not put your faith in them to get you to Heaven. Only God’s Son can save our souls.”
“When people say, ‘I believe in God, and if I’m good, I’ll go to Heaven,’ they’re not trusting the person of Jesus Christ Who suffered and died for their sins but the good things they have done. Let go of the plane!”
Chapter XXIV
Submarines Rendezvous
One reason for the high interest in our operation was the audacious nature in which it was done—with not one person risking his neck, but the crews of two nuclear submarine meeting in Soviet territorial waters.
USS Halibut (587) & USS Seawolf (575)
Both subs homeported at Mare Island, but Seawolf was not the sub we rendezvoused
with, as explained under Disclaimer at the front of the book.
Both subs homeported at Mare Island, but Seawolf was not the sub we rendezvoused
with, as explained under Disclaimer at the front of the book.
There was a prearranged rendezvous point in the Sea of Okhotsk, just inside the Kuril Islands. This rendezvous had each sub at a different depth, to avoid a possible collision. The nuclear submarine USS Stingray had already positioned herself in this sea and was listening for us to come in through the channel. This was to verify that we had made the transit into this Russian sea and were not being followed by an enemy sub.
The Stingray was to listen for us and then listen to see if a Soviet sub was behind us. Though it was not expected that a Russian sub would try and sink us in international waters, it was expected that they would try once we entered their territorial waters. If a Soviet vessel would have intercepted the Halibut, our other fast-attack submarine was to be the distraction by making noise and thereby also mask Halibut’s sound signature. The Stingray was a newer sub, very fast, and able to outrun Soviet destroyers.
Verification of the rendezvous was by listening for the voice signatures of each other’s sub. These voice signatures had been uploaded to both subs’ sonar computers before leaving port.
The Stingray was to listen for us and then listen to see if a Soviet sub was behind us. Though it was not expected that a Russian sub would try and sink us in international waters, it was expected that they would try once we entered their territorial waters. If a Soviet vessel would have intercepted the Halibut, our other fast-attack submarine was to be the distraction by making noise and thereby also mask Halibut’s sound signature. The Stingray was a newer sub, very fast, and able to outrun Soviet destroyers.
Verification of the rendezvous was by listening for the voice signatures of each other’s sub. These voice signatures had been uploaded to both subs’ sonar computers before leaving port.
Kuril Islands, entrance into the Sea of Okhotsk
Entering Soviet Territorial Waters
High above the ocean was a US Navy Transit Satellite circling the earth and transmitting coordinates to navy ships and submarines. The Halibut was positioning herself in a channel between two islands at the entrance into this sea. It was sunset, and 400 feet below the waves, the Halibut was receiving these coordinates via a floating antenna. The antenna was protruding above the waves and slowly moving toward the channel and then disappeared below the water line.
USS Halibut
The main sonar man on our sub was in his late 20s and had graduated top off his class. Over Halibut’s intercom, he said, “CONN, Sonar: Our floating antenna has been lowered, and the chart man is verifying the satellite coordinates.”
“Sonar, CONN: Aye.”
Captain Larson said, “XO, see if we are lined up for the channel.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Aft Torpedo Room
In the aft torpedo room two divers, Johnson and Nolan, competed to see how many push-ups they could do in one minute, while the other divers were encouraging their favorite. Johnson had bet Nolan $20.00 that he could do more push-ups than him, and other divers had made side bets.
We were in anticipation to hear who would be chosen for the dives, and the competition between us divers sometimes carried over into other areas.
“Johnson, if you can’t do any better than that, then you can forget about the dives,” Bates said.
Johnson didn’t respond to his harassing, saving his breath as he continued his competition, but Brown, his friend, did respond. “Bates, when they’re done, let’s see how many you can do.”
Johnson and Nolan were still competing, but in only a second the focus shifted to the dives. Their quick replies revealed they had been thinking about who would be chosen.
“Brown, you think you’re a shoo-in because you’ve made these dives before. Well, don’t bet on it!” Bates said.
Brown responded, “Real experience outweighs your practice dives any day of the week.”
Though all of us were experienced divers, only Brown and Nolan had made the dives in Siberia before, the rest of us had only made practice saturation dives.
As they were exchanging comments, Johnson and Nolan finished their competition, but no one noticed.
Johnson, gasping for air, said to Bates, “I won!”
“I’m happy for you,” Bates said sarcastically.
Suddenly it became quiet and one of the divers said to Brown and Bates, “Thanks for the entertainment.”
The crackle of the sub’s intercom was heard by everyone: “This is the captain. Rig for all quiet. No talking until further notice. Those not on duty station are to remain in their bunks.”
“You heard the captain. To our bunks.” said a diver.
The CONN, USS Halibut
The sub’s intercom had been turned off, small talk was no longer allowed, and the pitch of the orders had fallen to a whisper.
The XO was studying the charts, then looked at the Captain and nodded, affirming that we were lined up for the channel.
Captain Larson said, “Dive Officer, make our depth 300 feet.”
“Aye, Captain, making our depth 300 feet.”
Ghost Town
For the next three and a half hours much of our sub became like a ghost town that had buildings but no people. No one was milling around and the passageways and the chow hall were empty. Only the CONN and Sonar had men at their duty station but they were quiet and had rigged for red. Each watertight compartment on our sub required one man to be at watch station but the rest of us went to our bunks and remained silent. Some would try to sleep or read a book. But others would lie on their bunks and stare, thinking about what we were trying to accomplish—to enter Soviet territorial waters without being detected, as our sub glided over their acoustic range.
I thought about where we were and what we were hoping to accomplish, but as usual my thoughts went to making the dives. And something Williams had said, that he thought the reason they waited to tell us who was going to make the dives, was because they were afraid that if a diver was not chosen he might try to miss the deployment. It already seemed like a long deployment but we were barely two weeks into it.
USS Stingray, Submerged
Rigged for Red
Stingray’s captain: “XO, stand by the sonar room and let me know when they pick up the Halibut.”
“Aye, Captain.” The XO went to the sonar room, which had two sailors, one on headphones and one looking at the readouts from their computer.
“Sonar, have you picked up anything on the Halibut?”
“Nothing, XO, only background noise.”
The XO walked back to the captain. “Captain, they hear nothing. Do you think Halibut will wait for a freighter to mask her sound?”
He shakes his head no. “Halibut could just let the current take her through the channel.”
“So she won’t need her screws?” asked the XO.
“Yes, she will need them, but only enough to steer so as to maintain course, but not for speed.”
“Captain, the torpedoman’s mate is here to see you.”
The captain of the Stingray walked the torpedoman’s mate over to one side and said, “You know why we are here, and we hope you and your crew will never be needed, but, it’s our job to protect the Halibut. So we are going to be ready. Flood torpedo tubes one and four now, and then open their outer doors.”
“I have already instructed Sonar that if they pick up any Soviet sub trailing the Halibut, they are to listen for the outer doors of their torpedo tubes being opened. If that happens, then we’ll be a step ahead of them. You understand? Be ready.”
The torpedoman’s mate nodded, and the captain walked back to the CONN.
Soviet Destroyer
Captain Nikolay was pacing the deck, hoping for some action. His destroyer was slowly moving in an elongated circle at the main point of entry into the Sea of Okhotsk.
“Radio Room, have you any reports from our acoustic range?”
“Nothing, Captain.”
“Sonar, what about you? Anything?”
“No, Captain.”
USS Halibut
Between the Kuril Islands
No one was making a sound in the area of the CONN. The orders from the CONN were walked to Sonar instead of the usual speakerphone. The XO asked sonar if they could hear the Stingray.
“Nothing yet.”
The XO then looked toward the captain and shook his head no.
The captain asked the officer on deck (OOD), “Lieutenant, is there a thermocline layer here?”
“Not here, Sir. Maybe once we get into deeper water, we’ll find one.”
Russian Acoustic Range
On the Kamchatka Peninsula, two technicians were listening for intruders into their territorial waters. In a room on the other side of a glass wall the acoustic officer was seated with his feet up on his desk and playing darts.
One of the technicians brought a paper readout to the acoustic officer, “Lieutenant, I have something here you should look at.”
“It doesn’t say what it is?” said the Acoustic Officer.
“Well, it’s submerged, and if it’s a sub, it’s not one of ours.”
Acoustic Officer went into the glass rooms to listen for himself. And then said, “That new destroyer captain, the one at the entrance into our sea, he was insistent that if we picked up anything, we were to give it to him. So, send it to him.”
Soviet Destroyer
“Captain, Radio Room. We have just received a transmission from our acoustic range, and they have something. But not where we had expected. Instead it’s coming in through the next southern channel.”
“Is it submerged?” shouted the captain.
“Yes Sir, but it’s very faint, there not sure what it is.”
Captain Nikolay walked over to the charts and said, “Show me this channel.”
“Captain, it’s on the far side of the next island. Even at full speed, it will take us 20 minutes to get there.”
Captain Nikolay then belted out orders to his XO. “Chart us a course to this channel and park us right in the middle of it! Officer on Deck, tell the engine room to make full speed, and stand by our weapons system!”
USS Stingray
“CONN, Sonar: We have a surface contact bearing zero niner five.”
Stingray’s captain and XO looked at each other with surprised expressions. The captain and XO both went to the sonar room.
“Did you say surface contact?” asked the captain.
“Yes, sir! The computer is working on it. But whatever it is, it’s definitely Russian.”
Stingray’s captain asked, “Nothing on the Halibut?”
“Sir, we have no submerged contacts at all.”
The computer readout was taken by the XO, who glanced at it and handed it to the captain. Stingray’s Captain said, “It’s a Russian destroyer, Skoryy class, bearing down on us and at flank speed. She will be here in fifteen minutes.”
XO said, “Sir, we could outrun their destroyer.”
“The Halibut couldn’t,” responded the captain. “That destroyer is not coming for us—they couldn’t have heard us. We are barely moving. It has to be coming for the Halibut. It’s the time she should be here. The Russians must have picked her up on their acoustic range.”
The sonar man interjected, “Captain, you should know that if the Halibut is transiting the channel now, she wouldn’t hear that Soviet destroyer till she is past the northern island.”
“Let’s make some noise.” ordered the captain. “Officer on Deck, make our depth 200 feet. Tell Reactor to bring her to full power and Engine Room to stand by for flank speed.”
The OOD looked concerned, hesitated, but began to pass along the orders.
USS Halibut
“We have a submerged contact, possibly the USS Stingray. It’s from the area she should be in.” The XO relayed the message to the captain and then returned to the sonar room.
“XO, I am sure it’s one of our boats. The noise from her screw is definitely US. Just a moment, while the computer spits it out.” Out came the readout and the sonar man smiling, said, “Yes. It’s the Stingray.”
“Odd though. She is making more noise than I would have expected for the rendezvous. Sir, I’m afraid the Russian acoustic range can hear her.”
The XO informed the captain. The captain asked, “How much longer before we are out of the channel?”
“We are almost out now.”
The USS Halibut continued on her course and headed out into deeper water, dived below a thermocline, and entered safely into the Sea of Okhotsk.
The Rendezvous was Missed!
USS Stingray was making noise trying to contact the Halibut, but didn’t realize the Halibut had already heard her. The Halibut assumed that if she heard the Stingray, then the Stingray must have heard the Halibut. But the Stingray never heard the Halibut, and the rendezvous was missed. One advantage of the Stingray’s loud noise was that it masked the sound of the Halibut from both the Russian acoustic range and any enemy vessel in the area.
The USS Stingray ended up leaving the Sea of Okhotsk and exited out the nearest channel. She travels far enough out into the Pacific Ocean so that when she radioed US Naval Command, her position wouldn’t betray that she has been in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Soviet Destroyer
The Soviet destroyer showed up ten minutes too late. They were informed by their acoustic range that an American submarine traveling at high speed had exited out through the Kuril Islands and into the Pacific. Captain Nikolay didn’t waste the opportunity and radioed the Soviet naval base at Vladivostok.
“Tell Admiral Gorshkov that I have just chased an American submarine out of our waters! I doubt they will try that again.”
US Naval Command
OPERATION: Ivy Bells
HALIBUT LEFT PORT: Aug. 1
RENDEZVOUS CONFIRMAITON: Pending
EXPECTED RETURN DATE: Nov. 1
On the display board showing the status of Operation Ivy Bells, next to RENDEZVOUS, “Pending” has been removed and “Missing at Sea” is in its place. The operation officer rushes into the office of the secretary of the navy and says, “Sir, we have just received word from the Stingray that the Halibut did not make the rendezvous.”
Secretary of the navy straightens up with a concerned expression on his face and says, “Any idea of what happen?”
“The Stingray said there was a Russian destroyer in the channel moving at flank speed, but they heard no depth charges or explosions. It’s possible the Halibut just missed the rendezvous, for whatever reason.”
Secretary of the navy says, “Schedule another rendezvous attempt but at a different location, though still inside the Sea of Okhotsk.”
“Yes, sir.”
(This meant we had to turn around and go back for a few days and try again to rendezvous with the Stingray. This time we made lots of noise and succeed in the contact.
I have read that the USS Halibut was a noisy sub, and some even say this was the reason she was decommissioned. No, it wasn’t! Even before Halibut’s last deployment, all on board knew that this was her last run, because she had come to the end of her nuclear fuel. It would take a year and a half to refuel her, and her sister ship was waiting to take her place. Halibut had been tested by our own acoustic range, and at slow speeds she was very quiet. Captain Larson even said that the Halibut was quiet, by the fact that our other submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk wasn’t able to hear us at the first rendezvous attempt.)
Chapter XXV
Struggling with a Decision
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)
While on our submarine, I wrestled with whether or not I would serve God and about being chosen for the dives. I wondered if somehow the two were connected—serving God and Him allowing me to make the dive. I had trusted Jesus Christ with my soul for salvation, but I still wanted to make the decisions on what I was going to do with my life. I would ask God to bless my plans but I didn’t want to ask Him what He wanted me to do.
Desire
I have read online sites that called us divers “intrepid” for stepping out of a submarine in 400 feet of water—but then turned around and called us “babies” if we didn’t get chosen to make the dives, saying we had bad attitudes about it. But we wanted to make the dives, and if it’s okay to say, it was fun! We were well trained, in good shape physically, and chomping at the bit to make one of these dives.
The 21 saturation divers in our group were known as Deep Dive Team One (DDT1). Not only did most of us want to be selected to be one of the eight divers, we, or at least I, also wanted to be chosen to make the first saturation dive. The first saturation dive was “hook up,” or doing what we had gone there for, and the second was “disconnect.”
Entering Soviet Territorial Waters
High above the ocean was a US Navy Transit Satellite circling the earth and transmitting coordinates to navy ships and submarines. The Halibut was positioning herself in a channel between two islands at the entrance into this sea. It was sunset, and 400 feet below the waves, the Halibut was receiving these coordinates via a floating antenna. The antenna was protruding above the waves and slowly moving toward the channel and then disappeared below the water line.
USS Halibut
The main sonar man on our sub was in his late 20s and had graduated top off his class. Over Halibut’s intercom, he said, “CONN, Sonar: Our floating antenna has been lowered, and the chart man is verifying the satellite coordinates.”
“Sonar, CONN: Aye.”
Captain Larson said, “XO, see if we are lined up for the channel.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Aft Torpedo Room
In the aft torpedo room two divers, Johnson and Nolan, competed to see how many push-ups they could do in one minute, while the other divers were encouraging their favorite. Johnson had bet Nolan $20.00 that he could do more push-ups than him, and other divers had made side bets.
We were in anticipation to hear who would be chosen for the dives, and the competition between us divers sometimes carried over into other areas.
“Johnson, if you can’t do any better than that, then you can forget about the dives,” Bates said.
Johnson didn’t respond to his harassing, saving his breath as he continued his competition, but Brown, his friend, did respond. “Bates, when they’re done, let’s see how many you can do.”
Johnson and Nolan were still competing, but in only a second the focus shifted to the dives. Their quick replies revealed they had been thinking about who would be chosen.
“Brown, you think you’re a shoo-in because you’ve made these dives before. Well, don’t bet on it!” Bates said.
Brown responded, “Real experience outweighs your practice dives any day of the week.”
Though all of us were experienced divers, only Brown and Nolan had made the dives in Siberia before, the rest of us had only made practice saturation dives.
As they were exchanging comments, Johnson and Nolan finished their competition, but no one noticed.
Johnson, gasping for air, said to Bates, “I won!”
“I’m happy for you,” Bates said sarcastically.
Suddenly it became quiet and one of the divers said to Brown and Bates, “Thanks for the entertainment.”
The crackle of the sub’s intercom was heard by everyone: “This is the captain. Rig for all quiet. No talking until further notice. Those not on duty station are to remain in their bunks.”
“You heard the captain. To our bunks.” said a diver.
The CONN, USS Halibut
The sub’s intercom had been turned off, small talk was no longer allowed, and the pitch of the orders had fallen to a whisper.
The XO was studying the charts, then looked at the Captain and nodded, affirming that we were lined up for the channel.
Captain Larson said, “Dive Officer, make our depth 300 feet.”
“Aye, Captain, making our depth 300 feet.”
Ghost Town
For the next three and a half hours much of our sub became like a ghost town that had buildings but no people. No one was milling around and the passageways and the chow hall were empty. Only the CONN and Sonar had men at their duty station but they were quiet and had rigged for red. Each watertight compartment on our sub required one man to be at watch station but the rest of us went to our bunks and remained silent. Some would try to sleep or read a book. But others would lie on their bunks and stare, thinking about what we were trying to accomplish—to enter Soviet territorial waters without being detected, as our sub glided over their acoustic range.
I thought about where we were and what we were hoping to accomplish, but as usual my thoughts went to making the dives. And something Williams had said, that he thought the reason they waited to tell us who was going to make the dives, was because they were afraid that if a diver was not chosen he might try to miss the deployment. It already seemed like a long deployment but we were barely two weeks into it.
USS Stingray, Submerged
Rigged for Red
Stingray’s captain: “XO, stand by the sonar room and let me know when they pick up the Halibut.”
“Aye, Captain.” The XO went to the sonar room, which had two sailors, one on headphones and one looking at the readouts from their computer.
“Sonar, have you picked up anything on the Halibut?”
“Nothing, XO, only background noise.”
The XO walked back to the captain. “Captain, they hear nothing. Do you think Halibut will wait for a freighter to mask her sound?”
He shakes his head no. “Halibut could just let the current take her through the channel.”
“So she won’t need her screws?” asked the XO.
“Yes, she will need them, but only enough to steer so as to maintain course, but not for speed.”
“Captain, the torpedoman’s mate is here to see you.”
The captain of the Stingray walked the torpedoman’s mate over to one side and said, “You know why we are here, and we hope you and your crew will never be needed, but, it’s our job to protect the Halibut. So we are going to be ready. Flood torpedo tubes one and four now, and then open their outer doors.”
“I have already instructed Sonar that if they pick up any Soviet sub trailing the Halibut, they are to listen for the outer doors of their torpedo tubes being opened. If that happens, then we’ll be a step ahead of them. You understand? Be ready.”
The torpedoman’s mate nodded, and the captain walked back to the CONN.
Soviet Destroyer
Captain Nikolay was pacing the deck, hoping for some action. His destroyer was slowly moving in an elongated circle at the main point of entry into the Sea of Okhotsk.
“Radio Room, have you any reports from our acoustic range?”
“Nothing, Captain.”
“Sonar, what about you? Anything?”
“No, Captain.”
USS Halibut
Between the Kuril Islands
No one was making a sound in the area of the CONN. The orders from the CONN were walked to Sonar instead of the usual speakerphone. The XO asked sonar if they could hear the Stingray.
“Nothing yet.”
The XO then looked toward the captain and shook his head no.
The captain asked the officer on deck (OOD), “Lieutenant, is there a thermocline layer here?”
“Not here, Sir. Maybe once we get into deeper water, we’ll find one.”
Russian Acoustic Range
On the Kamchatka Peninsula, two technicians were listening for intruders into their territorial waters. In a room on the other side of a glass wall the acoustic officer was seated with his feet up on his desk and playing darts.
One of the technicians brought a paper readout to the acoustic officer, “Lieutenant, I have something here you should look at.”
“It doesn’t say what it is?” said the Acoustic Officer.
“Well, it’s submerged, and if it’s a sub, it’s not one of ours.”
Acoustic Officer went into the glass rooms to listen for himself. And then said, “That new destroyer captain, the one at the entrance into our sea, he was insistent that if we picked up anything, we were to give it to him. So, send it to him.”
Soviet Destroyer
“Captain, Radio Room. We have just received a transmission from our acoustic range, and they have something. But not where we had expected. Instead it’s coming in through the next southern channel.”
“Is it submerged?” shouted the captain.
“Yes Sir, but it’s very faint, there not sure what it is.”
Captain Nikolay walked over to the charts and said, “Show me this channel.”
“Captain, it’s on the far side of the next island. Even at full speed, it will take us 20 minutes to get there.”
Captain Nikolay then belted out orders to his XO. “Chart us a course to this channel and park us right in the middle of it! Officer on Deck, tell the engine room to make full speed, and stand by our weapons system!”
USS Stingray
“CONN, Sonar: We have a surface contact bearing zero niner five.”
Stingray’s captain and XO looked at each other with surprised expressions. The captain and XO both went to the sonar room.
“Did you say surface contact?” asked the captain.
“Yes, sir! The computer is working on it. But whatever it is, it’s definitely Russian.”
Stingray’s captain asked, “Nothing on the Halibut?”
“Sir, we have no submerged contacts at all.”
The computer readout was taken by the XO, who glanced at it and handed it to the captain. Stingray’s Captain said, “It’s a Russian destroyer, Skoryy class, bearing down on us and at flank speed. She will be here in fifteen minutes.”
XO said, “Sir, we could outrun their destroyer.”
“The Halibut couldn’t,” responded the captain. “That destroyer is not coming for us—they couldn’t have heard us. We are barely moving. It has to be coming for the Halibut. It’s the time she should be here. The Russians must have picked her up on their acoustic range.”
The sonar man interjected, “Captain, you should know that if the Halibut is transiting the channel now, she wouldn’t hear that Soviet destroyer till she is past the northern island.”
“Let’s make some noise.” ordered the captain. “Officer on Deck, make our depth 200 feet. Tell Reactor to bring her to full power and Engine Room to stand by for flank speed.”
The OOD looked concerned, hesitated, but began to pass along the orders.
USS Halibut
“We have a submerged contact, possibly the USS Stingray. It’s from the area she should be in.” The XO relayed the message to the captain and then returned to the sonar room.
“XO, I am sure it’s one of our boats. The noise from her screw is definitely US. Just a moment, while the computer spits it out.” Out came the readout and the sonar man smiling, said, “Yes. It’s the Stingray.”
“Odd though. She is making more noise than I would have expected for the rendezvous. Sir, I’m afraid the Russian acoustic range can hear her.”
The XO informed the captain. The captain asked, “How much longer before we are out of the channel?”
“We are almost out now.”
The USS Halibut continued on her course and headed out into deeper water, dived below a thermocline, and entered safely into the Sea of Okhotsk.
The Rendezvous was Missed!
USS Stingray was making noise trying to contact the Halibut, but didn’t realize the Halibut had already heard her. The Halibut assumed that if she heard the Stingray, then the Stingray must have heard the Halibut. But the Stingray never heard the Halibut, and the rendezvous was missed. One advantage of the Stingray’s loud noise was that it masked the sound of the Halibut from both the Russian acoustic range and any enemy vessel in the area.
The USS Stingray ended up leaving the Sea of Okhotsk and exited out the nearest channel. She travels far enough out into the Pacific Ocean so that when she radioed US Naval Command, her position wouldn’t betray that she has been in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Soviet Destroyer
The Soviet destroyer showed up ten minutes too late. They were informed by their acoustic range that an American submarine traveling at high speed had exited out through the Kuril Islands and into the Pacific. Captain Nikolay didn’t waste the opportunity and radioed the Soviet naval base at Vladivostok.
“Tell Admiral Gorshkov that I have just chased an American submarine out of our waters! I doubt they will try that again.”
US Naval Command
OPERATION: Ivy Bells
HALIBUT LEFT PORT: Aug. 1
RENDEZVOUS CONFIRMAITON: Pending
EXPECTED RETURN DATE: Nov. 1
On the display board showing the status of Operation Ivy Bells, next to RENDEZVOUS, “Pending” has been removed and “Missing at Sea” is in its place. The operation officer rushes into the office of the secretary of the navy and says, “Sir, we have just received word from the Stingray that the Halibut did not make the rendezvous.”
Secretary of the navy straightens up with a concerned expression on his face and says, “Any idea of what happen?”
“The Stingray said there was a Russian destroyer in the channel moving at flank speed, but they heard no depth charges or explosions. It’s possible the Halibut just missed the rendezvous, for whatever reason.”
Secretary of the navy says, “Schedule another rendezvous attempt but at a different location, though still inside the Sea of Okhotsk.”
“Yes, sir.”
(This meant we had to turn around and go back for a few days and try again to rendezvous with the Stingray. This time we made lots of noise and succeed in the contact.
I have read that the USS Halibut was a noisy sub, and some even say this was the reason she was decommissioned. No, it wasn’t! Even before Halibut’s last deployment, all on board knew that this was her last run, because she had come to the end of her nuclear fuel. It would take a year and a half to refuel her, and her sister ship was waiting to take her place. Halibut had been tested by our own acoustic range, and at slow speeds she was very quiet. Captain Larson even said that the Halibut was quiet, by the fact that our other submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk wasn’t able to hear us at the first rendezvous attempt.)
Chapter XXV
Struggling with a Decision
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)
While on our submarine, I wrestled with whether or not I would serve God and about being chosen for the dives. I wondered if somehow the two were connected—serving God and Him allowing me to make the dive. I had trusted Jesus Christ with my soul for salvation, but I still wanted to make the decisions on what I was going to do with my life. I would ask God to bless my plans but I didn’t want to ask Him what He wanted me to do.
Desire
I have read online sites that called us divers “intrepid” for stepping out of a submarine in 400 feet of water—but then turned around and called us “babies” if we didn’t get chosen to make the dives, saying we had bad attitudes about it. But we wanted to make the dives, and if it’s okay to say, it was fun! We were well trained, in good shape physically, and chomping at the bit to make one of these dives.
The 21 saturation divers in our group were known as Deep Dive Team One (DDT1). Not only did most of us want to be selected to be one of the eight divers, we, or at least I, also wanted to be chosen to make the first saturation dive. The first saturation dive was “hook up,” or doing what we had gone there for, and the second was “disconnect.”
I am circled at the top of this 1974 photo of the USS Halibut’s saturation divers. On the 1975 deployment half of the divers had been changed but I don’t have the 1975 photo.
I was up in the DSRV in the secondary control room asking James questions about the Bible, and he said, “Garry, you ought to go to Bible college.”
“Yeah, right, Chief,” I replied, laughing. “I have no intention of going to any college, let alone Bible college. I won’t fit in there.”
Chief said, “God is not looking for perfect people—there aren’t any! Just those who will let the Lord make them into who He wants.”
“OK, Chief. Listen, there is something I want to talk to you about. We have practiced for more than a year for this one special operation, and I definitely want to be chosen for one of the two saturation dives that are planned. But every time I pray about it, I feel like God is saying to me, ‘What if I don’t let you make these dives?’ I am not hearing any voices, only this impression that He might not let me do this.”
Chief asked, “You don’t believe God wants you to make these dives?”
“No, not that, or at least I hope He is willing to let me make one of the dives.”
“When I pray, I tell the Lord I’ll live a better life for Him and serve Him if He lets me make one of these dives. But when I ask God, I keep getting the impression He is saying, ‘What if I don’t let you make the dives?’”
Chief said, “If our decisions are based upon what God will give us, how strong is our love for Him?”
“James, I am holding nothing back on this, and I cannot bear the thought of being passed over and someone else taking my place. OK, maybe I’m childish, but for me, being chosen for this is the most important thing in my life.”
“Why is the dive so important to you? You want that medal, the Legion of Merit?”
“Yes, I would like one of those. But that’s not it. I can live without the medal.”
“It’s something else. I don’t want someone looking down their nose at me as if I’m not good enough, physically or mentally, to make these dives. I want to prove to others that I can do this. I know I can do it, it’s just jumping in the water to me, and I know the other divers can do it also. Still, some of us won’t be chosen. And it makes me heartsick thinking about being rejected.”
“The closest thing I can compare it to is when I was a senior in high school. I bought a car and went to football practice, but I played second-string football because I was a skinny kid. But the few times I played in a game were fun, a real adrenalin rush for me. But most of the season I sat on the bench. I didn’t like the feeling it gave me, that I was somehow inferior to others. This is how I feel now about the dives: I want to play, not sit on the bench!” But when I pray about it, I get the impression the Lord only wants to know one thing, ‘What if you don’t make the dives, will you serve me anyway?’”
“James, I know that if I tell the Lord that I’ll serve Him, even if I don’t get what I want, that He will hold me to it.”
James said, “God wants our heart.”
“Regardless if I go into the ministry or stay a diver, I think God wants me to give Him my life, for whatever He wants. But I had wanted a different life. To make my own decisions, live for myself, go to parties, do whatever I wanted.”
“But didn’t you tell me you almost died in a car wreck doing your own thing? God can do a better job with our lives than we can. He made us He knows how to make us happy.”
James paused for a moment, and then said, “By the way, I asked the diving officer again, and he told me it’s now down to ten of you that they are going to pick from, and you’re still in the running. They’ll be making their decision any time now.”
“Garry, you have to be prepared if it doesn’t work out as you want. In the past, I have witnessed divers with bad attitudes who weren’t chosen. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you don’t want that.”
I Will Serve You
The next day I was in my bunk praying, when I heard Chief’s voice and I climbed out of my bunk.
Chief asked, “How you doing? I have been praying for you.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Have you been able to give this into the Lord’s hand?”
I nodded my head yes, “I prayed and said to the Lord I would serve Him even if He doesn’t let me make the dive. But I added on to the end of my prayer, ‘God, I really want to do this.’”
James half laughed and walked away.
The next day one of the officers came up to me and only said one thing, “You’re making the first SAT dive.” He then turned and walked off, leaving me standing there wondering how such a monumental thing to me could have been resolved in only one sentence.
Though I was certainly happy with the news, I was surprised by who told me, it wasn’t the diving officer. I rarely talked to this officer who told me, as he was not involved with the dives. It seemed so out of place to have someone who was not a diver to share such news. I asked Williams, one of the diver, and he said it was because those who were over us didn’t want to listen to the ones who weren’t chosen get upset and complain.
Chapter XXVI
The Pressure Cooker
Sink the Halibut?
Because the Halibut was pushing through the water many things that had been added on to it, it was slow and almost anything the Russians had could outrun her.
There were codes and other secrets on our sub, not to mention the latest technology, and the last thing the navy wanted was for all this to fall into the hands of the Russians. Therefore it was necessary for our sub to have destructive charges to scuttle her in the event the Soviets tried to bring us to the surface.
These were locked in two safes with red tape around them. One was in the aft torpedo room by the bulkhead next to the engine room, and the other was in the forward part of the sub on the lower level by another bulkhead. We were told these were each 50 pounds of TNT, which would have done the job had it been necessary. The Sea of Okhotsk has deep water close to where we dove; therefore Halibut could have been sunk in water too deep to have been salvaged.
It was never explained how such a scenario would have been carried out, at least not while I was on board. I suppose COB or one of the officers would have set a timer on the explosives. I also believe they would have done it.
There were life preservers on the Halibut, but no rubber life rafts, at least not that I saw. A sailor without a life raft would die within a few minutes in the freezing waters. And unless there was a major problem on our sub, such as a radiation leak or fire, there is no reason our sub would have gone to the surface in Soviet territorial waters, unless forced to by the Russians. If a Russian vessel would have taken us off the Halibut, not only would we have been put in prison, but they would have boarded our sub seeking to stop us from sinking her.
If Halibut became trapped by the Russians, she would have been scuttled, and I cannot see any likely scenario in which we would have made it off. But then none of us were forced to be on the Halibut—we were all volunteers.
According to the History Channel documentary Blind Man’s Bluff (produced by A&E Networks with Will Lyman and Sherry Sontag), “Ivy Bells remained the most dangerous operation of the Cold War. Every cable-tapping mission required the personal approval of the president.” Gary Powers in his CIA spy plane was shot down by the Russians when he entered Soviet air space.
Were we afraid? One diver confided in me that he was afraid of the saturation dives—there were more things that could go wrong. Still, he was chosen and he made the dive. Personally, I loved it, though something happened on my last water entry in Siberia which caused me to have real concern.
The truth is, it’s was dangerous for me to just drive a car. I wouldn’t want to do the dangerous things that those in war do—walking around land mines and having bullets whiz past their heads. But no one on the Halibut was afraid, and if they were, they did a good job of hiding it.
Discipline Would be Maintained
On our sub there was a small empty room next to the stairway by the entrance into the bat cave. The door to this room was metal, with bars on it, similar to a jail cell. I notice it every time I walked by, and I finally asked someone about it. I was told it really was our sub’s jail, and if it was ever needed (which thankfully, it wasn’t), whoever would be put in it would only be served bread and water until the captain released him.
There was one US Marine on board the Halibut, who was to some extent a security guard. He had a likable personality, but he served no visible purpose. He wasn’t sub qualified, and he had no duty station. The only thing he did was to occasionally run on the treadmill. This marine and the cell were visible reminders, if only unconsciously, that no matter how fed up one might get, discipline would still be maintained.
Isolated Compartments
There was something about our sub that I hadn’t expected, limited fellowship. You could talk to anyone but people tended to stay in their own group.
Much of our sub was off limits. Starting from the forward torpedo room till the bulkhead that housed the nuclear reactor, there were the normal off limit compartments. But because our operation was secret, to even the crew of the Halibut, the computer room, display room and NSA room, were also off limits. Then from the reactor room aft, was off limits to all but the nukes and divers. This included the engine room and aft torpedo room, one-third of our sub. And the nukes weren’t allowed in the aft torpedo room. This compartmentalizing of the Halibut, though necessary, limited interaction to one’s own group, torpedomen, nukes, divers etc., and also limited our space in what was already a very small world.
“Keeping Your Cool”
The above in this chapter was given so the reader would have a feel for the atmosphere on our sub. In the world if one has a bad day at work he can at least go home at 5:00 pm, but not on a sub. Try to imagine living in a steel pipe for three months, with no exit, no recreation (except the treadmill), no fresh air, and no communications with your girlfriend or family. Sitting on the bottom of a sea hoping that no leaks start with thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch all over the sub. And in the back of your mind you know that if the Russians ever find out you’re in their territorial waters, it will be a very serious problem.
Under conditions like that, it is certainly possible to “fly off the handle”. People do and say things they shouldn’t, or a practical joke gets out of control. The problem was, there was no way to let off “steam” until we got back in port.
It was acknowledged by all that we were fortunate to have our cook, as he made the best meals, and even homemade bread. But his job was demanding, and he constantly worked. One time when we were at periscope depth, the Halibut was rocked by a surface wave, sending the food from the galley stoves onto the floor. Words and tempers flew.
I was in the aft torpedo room when the tallest diver on our team, someone not used to taking back talk, came in upset. He said it was because the cook had hollered at him. This diver started to say, “Sometimes that cook can … can … well …” But then he stopped his words midsentence and sat down.
No one said anything, thinking it would pass. After about ten minutes, the cook came in through the steel hatch wiping his hands on a towel. The aft torpedo room was off limits to him. Still, no one said anything, but only watched. He told the diver he was sorry (for which I admired him), and then he stood there, expecting some sort of response. But the diver just looked at him, and then barely nodded his head. Then the cook turned and looked at the rest of us, and then walked out. All this was done without anyone else saying a word.
On the Halibut, there were times when a sailor purposely made someone else upset and then went to the chow hall and bragged about it. Such things happen anywhere, but it’s worse in a confined environment. And especially in the dive chamber, which was considerably smaller than our sub, and we were not even able to stand up in it. Therefore, when a team of four was picked for a week long saturation dive, consideration was given to our compatibility.
They Announced Who Was Chosen
There was one more thing “added to the mix.” Shortly after we entered the Sea of Okhotsk, the eight of us who would be diving were informed. This meant there were some very happy people and some very unhappy people. Oddly, the competition between the divers seemed to grow after the divers were picked.
Before the dives, the eight who had been chosen met with the corpsman whom we called Doc.
“Now that we are past this rendezvous, we can get on with the show.” Doc said.
“Those of you with beards will have to shave them off, as it affects the seal on your dive mask. You’ll also need to practice giving injections and drawing blood from each other so that, if the need arises, a medical officer won’t have to be pressed down in your dive chamber.”
Meanwhile, while this was going on, something happened that was both interesting and unsettling to watch. Bob a diver who hadn’t been chosen, showed up.
“What do you want?” Doc asked.
Bob responded, “I thought I would be, like, a substitute in the event one of the divers became sick.”
“We don’t need that.”
“One never knows,” Bob said.
Doc insisted, “I said, we don’t need that.”
Bob responded, “I heard two years back one of the divers was bumped at the last minute.”
“The diving officer has prepared for that.” Doc said, and then added, “I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you, but forcing it is not going to work out either.”
Bob said, “Well, I’ll just watch then.”
The diver wasn’t going to leave and Doc was upset. A tense situation but I thought Doc handled it the right way. Doc folded his arms, looked down at the ground, and said nothing. It was quiet and uncomfortable for a few-long seconds. With the rest of us divers staring at Bob, as he staring back at us. Then he walked away.
No one said anything and the corpsman went on as though the other diver had never been there. But I think I knew how this diver felt, because I would have felt the same way, seeing my dream slip away. I found out later this diver was assigned to one of the following submarines that took Halibut’s place. And then it worked out for him as he was chosen to make a SAT dive in Russian. He was not a quitter.
To say I was overjoyed at getting to make this dive would be an understatement. Which didn’t help relations with those around me. One diver who was chosen was still not happy, because he was picked for the second saturation dive. He’d hoped, perhaps expected, to be on the first saturation dive. Even though he would be designated “Red Diver” (lead diver on the water entries) and was put in charge of the team of four divers who would make the second round of SAT dives. Nonetheless he was burned about not being on the first SAT dive.
I even started to call him by a new name. “Hey number two, how ya doing?” Referring to him being on the second SAT dive. This upset him. I shouldn’t have done it, I feel bad about it now, but that was the sort of ribbing we gave each other.
He grew tired of it and thought he would get even with me. I was sound asleep in my bunk when I was awakened by Number Two and another diver. They both shook me and said, “Garry, wake up! There is bad news! I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but there has been a change on who is diving.”
Normally when I wake up out of a sound sleep, I am disoriented. But not then, I knew exactly what they were up too. I said, “Oh, Number Two, you mean they aren’t going to let you dive at all?” He got upset and left. Now before one judges us of being too juvenile, he should try living in a steel pipe for three months. With all this in mind, what follows happened only a few days before the dives.
Each day I walked through the length of the sub and fellowshipped with whomever might want to talk. After I made my way back to the aft torpedo room, I saw Jim, a diver friend who had watch. Every compartment on the sub was required to have a watch station to make sure no fires or leaks started. My friend was red faced and visibly upset.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Wilson is drawing pictures of my wife!”
We had a large book with blank pages, and whoever wanted could write a saying or a funny poem or draw pictures in it. This other diver had drawn three or four pictures of Jim’s wife. These weren’t sensual pictures, but of a past argument he’d had with her. Wilson had drawn Jim’s wife and wrote what she had said in this book, which was open to anyone to read.
Jim was very upset and said, “I want to take a hammer to him!”
I looked at him for a second and realized I needed to do something. I found the book and tore out the drawings of his wife, ripped them up into small pieces, and threw them into a trash can. Then I went to find the master diver, who in our chain of command was over us. I found him in the chief’s lounge, but this was off limits to me. So I stood at the door and asked him to come out and talk. But he said, “Later.”
But it couldn’t wait. There was another chief in the lounge and if I said what the problem was, the other chief would hear it and it could go through the whole sub. So I asked again, “Chief, it’s really important. I need to talk to you, please.” What he said next irritated me.
“What’s the matter? You afraid we’ll change our minds and not let you make the SAT dive?”
I knew where this came from. I guess one could say I got payback from Number Two. When I heard the master diver say this, I thought, OK, I’m just going to blurt it out.
“Wilson is drawing pictures of Jim’s wife, and Jim says he wants to take a hammer to him.”
The other chief in the room said, “Whoo!” The master diver ran out and asked, “Where’s Jim?” I told him and he took off to find him. He found Jim and calmed him down. Later I was going through the chow hall and saw our master diver sitting at a corner table “talking” to Wilson.
Neither one of these divers were bad people; they were just enduring living in a submarine for three months. I heard years later that both men went on to become master diver.
Chapter XXVII
The Dives
Unforeseen and surprising
Events at the site of the dives.
I was up in the DSRV in the secondary control room asking James questions about the Bible, and he said, “Garry, you ought to go to Bible college.”
“Yeah, right, Chief,” I replied, laughing. “I have no intention of going to any college, let alone Bible college. I won’t fit in there.”
Chief said, “God is not looking for perfect people—there aren’t any! Just those who will let the Lord make them into who He wants.”
“OK, Chief. Listen, there is something I want to talk to you about. We have practiced for more than a year for this one special operation, and I definitely want to be chosen for one of the two saturation dives that are planned. But every time I pray about it, I feel like God is saying to me, ‘What if I don’t let you make these dives?’ I am not hearing any voices, only this impression that He might not let me do this.”
Chief asked, “You don’t believe God wants you to make these dives?”
“No, not that, or at least I hope He is willing to let me make one of the dives.”
“When I pray, I tell the Lord I’ll live a better life for Him and serve Him if He lets me make one of these dives. But when I ask God, I keep getting the impression He is saying, ‘What if I don’t let you make the dives?’”
Chief said, “If our decisions are based upon what God will give us, how strong is our love for Him?”
“James, I am holding nothing back on this, and I cannot bear the thought of being passed over and someone else taking my place. OK, maybe I’m childish, but for me, being chosen for this is the most important thing in my life.”
“Why is the dive so important to you? You want that medal, the Legion of Merit?”
“Yes, I would like one of those. But that’s not it. I can live without the medal.”
“It’s something else. I don’t want someone looking down their nose at me as if I’m not good enough, physically or mentally, to make these dives. I want to prove to others that I can do this. I know I can do it, it’s just jumping in the water to me, and I know the other divers can do it also. Still, some of us won’t be chosen. And it makes me heartsick thinking about being rejected.”
“The closest thing I can compare it to is when I was a senior in high school. I bought a car and went to football practice, but I played second-string football because I was a skinny kid. But the few times I played in a game were fun, a real adrenalin rush for me. But most of the season I sat on the bench. I didn’t like the feeling it gave me, that I was somehow inferior to others. This is how I feel now about the dives: I want to play, not sit on the bench!” But when I pray about it, I get the impression the Lord only wants to know one thing, ‘What if you don’t make the dives, will you serve me anyway?’”
“James, I know that if I tell the Lord that I’ll serve Him, even if I don’t get what I want, that He will hold me to it.”
James said, “God wants our heart.”
“Regardless if I go into the ministry or stay a diver, I think God wants me to give Him my life, for whatever He wants. But I had wanted a different life. To make my own decisions, live for myself, go to parties, do whatever I wanted.”
“But didn’t you tell me you almost died in a car wreck doing your own thing? God can do a better job with our lives than we can. He made us He knows how to make us happy.”
James paused for a moment, and then said, “By the way, I asked the diving officer again, and he told me it’s now down to ten of you that they are going to pick from, and you’re still in the running. They’ll be making their decision any time now.”
“Garry, you have to be prepared if it doesn’t work out as you want. In the past, I have witnessed divers with bad attitudes who weren’t chosen. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you don’t want that.”
I Will Serve You
The next day I was in my bunk praying, when I heard Chief’s voice and I climbed out of my bunk.
Chief asked, “How you doing? I have been praying for you.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Have you been able to give this into the Lord’s hand?”
I nodded my head yes, “I prayed and said to the Lord I would serve Him even if He doesn’t let me make the dive. But I added on to the end of my prayer, ‘God, I really want to do this.’”
James half laughed and walked away.
The next day one of the officers came up to me and only said one thing, “You’re making the first SAT dive.” He then turned and walked off, leaving me standing there wondering how such a monumental thing to me could have been resolved in only one sentence.
Though I was certainly happy with the news, I was surprised by who told me, it wasn’t the diving officer. I rarely talked to this officer who told me, as he was not involved with the dives. It seemed so out of place to have someone who was not a diver to share such news. I asked Williams, one of the diver, and he said it was because those who were over us didn’t want to listen to the ones who weren’t chosen get upset and complain.
Chapter XXVI
The Pressure Cooker
Sink the Halibut?
Because the Halibut was pushing through the water many things that had been added on to it, it was slow and almost anything the Russians had could outrun her.
There were codes and other secrets on our sub, not to mention the latest technology, and the last thing the navy wanted was for all this to fall into the hands of the Russians. Therefore it was necessary for our sub to have destructive charges to scuttle her in the event the Soviets tried to bring us to the surface.
These were locked in two safes with red tape around them. One was in the aft torpedo room by the bulkhead next to the engine room, and the other was in the forward part of the sub on the lower level by another bulkhead. We were told these were each 50 pounds of TNT, which would have done the job had it been necessary. The Sea of Okhotsk has deep water close to where we dove; therefore Halibut could have been sunk in water too deep to have been salvaged.
It was never explained how such a scenario would have been carried out, at least not while I was on board. I suppose COB or one of the officers would have set a timer on the explosives. I also believe they would have done it.
There were life preservers on the Halibut, but no rubber life rafts, at least not that I saw. A sailor without a life raft would die within a few minutes in the freezing waters. And unless there was a major problem on our sub, such as a radiation leak or fire, there is no reason our sub would have gone to the surface in Soviet territorial waters, unless forced to by the Russians. If a Russian vessel would have taken us off the Halibut, not only would we have been put in prison, but they would have boarded our sub seeking to stop us from sinking her.
If Halibut became trapped by the Russians, she would have been scuttled, and I cannot see any likely scenario in which we would have made it off. But then none of us were forced to be on the Halibut—we were all volunteers.
According to the History Channel documentary Blind Man’s Bluff (produced by A&E Networks with Will Lyman and Sherry Sontag), “Ivy Bells remained the most dangerous operation of the Cold War. Every cable-tapping mission required the personal approval of the president.” Gary Powers in his CIA spy plane was shot down by the Russians when he entered Soviet air space.
Were we afraid? One diver confided in me that he was afraid of the saturation dives—there were more things that could go wrong. Still, he was chosen and he made the dive. Personally, I loved it, though something happened on my last water entry in Siberia which caused me to have real concern.
The truth is, it’s was dangerous for me to just drive a car. I wouldn’t want to do the dangerous things that those in war do—walking around land mines and having bullets whiz past their heads. But no one on the Halibut was afraid, and if they were, they did a good job of hiding it.
Discipline Would be Maintained
On our sub there was a small empty room next to the stairway by the entrance into the bat cave. The door to this room was metal, with bars on it, similar to a jail cell. I notice it every time I walked by, and I finally asked someone about it. I was told it really was our sub’s jail, and if it was ever needed (which thankfully, it wasn’t), whoever would be put in it would only be served bread and water until the captain released him.
There was one US Marine on board the Halibut, who was to some extent a security guard. He had a likable personality, but he served no visible purpose. He wasn’t sub qualified, and he had no duty station. The only thing he did was to occasionally run on the treadmill. This marine and the cell were visible reminders, if only unconsciously, that no matter how fed up one might get, discipline would still be maintained.
Isolated Compartments
There was something about our sub that I hadn’t expected, limited fellowship. You could talk to anyone but people tended to stay in their own group.
Much of our sub was off limits. Starting from the forward torpedo room till the bulkhead that housed the nuclear reactor, there were the normal off limit compartments. But because our operation was secret, to even the crew of the Halibut, the computer room, display room and NSA room, were also off limits. Then from the reactor room aft, was off limits to all but the nukes and divers. This included the engine room and aft torpedo room, one-third of our sub. And the nukes weren’t allowed in the aft torpedo room. This compartmentalizing of the Halibut, though necessary, limited interaction to one’s own group, torpedomen, nukes, divers etc., and also limited our space in what was already a very small world.
“Keeping Your Cool”
The above in this chapter was given so the reader would have a feel for the atmosphere on our sub. In the world if one has a bad day at work he can at least go home at 5:00 pm, but not on a sub. Try to imagine living in a steel pipe for three months, with no exit, no recreation (except the treadmill), no fresh air, and no communications with your girlfriend or family. Sitting on the bottom of a sea hoping that no leaks start with thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch all over the sub. And in the back of your mind you know that if the Russians ever find out you’re in their territorial waters, it will be a very serious problem.
Under conditions like that, it is certainly possible to “fly off the handle”. People do and say things they shouldn’t, or a practical joke gets out of control. The problem was, there was no way to let off “steam” until we got back in port.
It was acknowledged by all that we were fortunate to have our cook, as he made the best meals, and even homemade bread. But his job was demanding, and he constantly worked. One time when we were at periscope depth, the Halibut was rocked by a surface wave, sending the food from the galley stoves onto the floor. Words and tempers flew.
I was in the aft torpedo room when the tallest diver on our team, someone not used to taking back talk, came in upset. He said it was because the cook had hollered at him. This diver started to say, “Sometimes that cook can … can … well …” But then he stopped his words midsentence and sat down.
No one said anything, thinking it would pass. After about ten minutes, the cook came in through the steel hatch wiping his hands on a towel. The aft torpedo room was off limits to him. Still, no one said anything, but only watched. He told the diver he was sorry (for which I admired him), and then he stood there, expecting some sort of response. But the diver just looked at him, and then barely nodded his head. Then the cook turned and looked at the rest of us, and then walked out. All this was done without anyone else saying a word.
On the Halibut, there were times when a sailor purposely made someone else upset and then went to the chow hall and bragged about it. Such things happen anywhere, but it’s worse in a confined environment. And especially in the dive chamber, which was considerably smaller than our sub, and we were not even able to stand up in it. Therefore, when a team of four was picked for a week long saturation dive, consideration was given to our compatibility.
They Announced Who Was Chosen
There was one more thing “added to the mix.” Shortly after we entered the Sea of Okhotsk, the eight of us who would be diving were informed. This meant there were some very happy people and some very unhappy people. Oddly, the competition between the divers seemed to grow after the divers were picked.
Before the dives, the eight who had been chosen met with the corpsman whom we called Doc.
“Now that we are past this rendezvous, we can get on with the show.” Doc said.
“Those of you with beards will have to shave them off, as it affects the seal on your dive mask. You’ll also need to practice giving injections and drawing blood from each other so that, if the need arises, a medical officer won’t have to be pressed down in your dive chamber.”
Meanwhile, while this was going on, something happened that was both interesting and unsettling to watch. Bob a diver who hadn’t been chosen, showed up.
“What do you want?” Doc asked.
Bob responded, “I thought I would be, like, a substitute in the event one of the divers became sick.”
“We don’t need that.”
“One never knows,” Bob said.
Doc insisted, “I said, we don’t need that.”
Bob responded, “I heard two years back one of the divers was bumped at the last minute.”
“The diving officer has prepared for that.” Doc said, and then added, “I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you, but forcing it is not going to work out either.”
Bob said, “Well, I’ll just watch then.”
The diver wasn’t going to leave and Doc was upset. A tense situation but I thought Doc handled it the right way. Doc folded his arms, looked down at the ground, and said nothing. It was quiet and uncomfortable for a few-long seconds. With the rest of us divers staring at Bob, as he staring back at us. Then he walked away.
No one said anything and the corpsman went on as though the other diver had never been there. But I think I knew how this diver felt, because I would have felt the same way, seeing my dream slip away. I found out later this diver was assigned to one of the following submarines that took Halibut’s place. And then it worked out for him as he was chosen to make a SAT dive in Russian. He was not a quitter.
To say I was overjoyed at getting to make this dive would be an understatement. Which didn’t help relations with those around me. One diver who was chosen was still not happy, because he was picked for the second saturation dive. He’d hoped, perhaps expected, to be on the first saturation dive. Even though he would be designated “Red Diver” (lead diver on the water entries) and was put in charge of the team of four divers who would make the second round of SAT dives. Nonetheless he was burned about not being on the first SAT dive.
I even started to call him by a new name. “Hey number two, how ya doing?” Referring to him being on the second SAT dive. This upset him. I shouldn’t have done it, I feel bad about it now, but that was the sort of ribbing we gave each other.
He grew tired of it and thought he would get even with me. I was sound asleep in my bunk when I was awakened by Number Two and another diver. They both shook me and said, “Garry, wake up! There is bad news! I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but there has been a change on who is diving.”
Normally when I wake up out of a sound sleep, I am disoriented. But not then, I knew exactly what they were up too. I said, “Oh, Number Two, you mean they aren’t going to let you dive at all?” He got upset and left. Now before one judges us of being too juvenile, he should try living in a steel pipe for three months. With all this in mind, what follows happened only a few days before the dives.
Each day I walked through the length of the sub and fellowshipped with whomever might want to talk. After I made my way back to the aft torpedo room, I saw Jim, a diver friend who had watch. Every compartment on the sub was required to have a watch station to make sure no fires or leaks started. My friend was red faced and visibly upset.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Wilson is drawing pictures of my wife!”
We had a large book with blank pages, and whoever wanted could write a saying or a funny poem or draw pictures in it. This other diver had drawn three or four pictures of Jim’s wife. These weren’t sensual pictures, but of a past argument he’d had with her. Wilson had drawn Jim’s wife and wrote what she had said in this book, which was open to anyone to read.
Jim was very upset and said, “I want to take a hammer to him!”
I looked at him for a second and realized I needed to do something. I found the book and tore out the drawings of his wife, ripped them up into small pieces, and threw them into a trash can. Then I went to find the master diver, who in our chain of command was over us. I found him in the chief’s lounge, but this was off limits to me. So I stood at the door and asked him to come out and talk. But he said, “Later.”
But it couldn’t wait. There was another chief in the lounge and if I said what the problem was, the other chief would hear it and it could go through the whole sub. So I asked again, “Chief, it’s really important. I need to talk to you, please.” What he said next irritated me.
“What’s the matter? You afraid we’ll change our minds and not let you make the SAT dive?”
I knew where this came from. I guess one could say I got payback from Number Two. When I heard the master diver say this, I thought, OK, I’m just going to blurt it out.
“Wilson is drawing pictures of Jim’s wife, and Jim says he wants to take a hammer to him.”
The other chief in the room said, “Whoo!” The master diver ran out and asked, “Where’s Jim?” I told him and he took off to find him. He found Jim and calmed him down. Later I was going through the chow hall and saw our master diver sitting at a corner table “talking” to Wilson.
Neither one of these divers were bad people; they were just enduring living in a submarine for three months. I heard years later that both men went on to become master diver.
Chapter XXVII
The Dives
Unforeseen and surprising
Events at the site of the dives.
Courtesy of H I Sutton, Covert Shores.
Divers in the drawing are placing a POD used to store recordings. On the seafloor is the cable, and to the right is a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) filming it. Us divers called it the “Eye”
CIA Release
“Ivy Bells … an undersea cable linking one part of the Soviet Union to the other across the Sea of Okhotsk, was bugged by a device set out by a submarine. A submarine pulled near it and frogmen went out and attached a device …” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2011/12/21, CIA-RDP90-00965R000100310013-6)
Getting Ready
Though most sailors on the sub didn’t know where we were or what we were getting ready for, still all knew the Halibut was “parked” on the seafloor and the dives were about to begin. The crew of the Halibut had got us safely here and they wanted the dives to be a success.
During this time the divers began startup, with their check-off lists. The tempo picks up, and we divers had a more alert look. Now the spooks, project officers, and us divers took center stage. A whole year’s planning was about to be tested. It fell on us divers to implement this, and we were savoring the moment.
Display Room
All eight divers, plus the master diver and diving officer, were assembled in the display room. Before this meeting, I had only caught glimpses of the display room, when its door was open, for normally it was off limits. The display officer was one of the two project officers on board, the other was the diving officer.
The location of the display room is shown on the following drawing, right above the aquarium.
Divers in the drawing are placing a POD used to store recordings. On the seafloor is the cable, and to the right is a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) filming it. Us divers called it the “Eye”
CIA Release
“Ivy Bells … an undersea cable linking one part of the Soviet Union to the other across the Sea of Okhotsk, was bugged by a device set out by a submarine. A submarine pulled near it and frogmen went out and attached a device …” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2011/12/21, CIA-RDP90-00965R000100310013-6)
Getting Ready
Though most sailors on the sub didn’t know where we were or what we were getting ready for, still all knew the Halibut was “parked” on the seafloor and the dives were about to begin. The crew of the Halibut had got us safely here and they wanted the dives to be a success.
During this time the divers began startup, with their check-off lists. The tempo picks up, and we divers had a more alert look. Now the spooks, project officers, and us divers took center stage. A whole year’s planning was about to be tested. It fell on us divers to implement this, and we were savoring the moment.
Display Room
All eight divers, plus the master diver and diving officer, were assembled in the display room. Before this meeting, I had only caught glimpses of the display room, when its door was open, for normally it was off limits. The display officer was one of the two project officers on board, the other was the diving officer.
The location of the display room is shown on the following drawing, right above the aquarium.
The computer room on the Halibut had a reel-to-reel system, a dinosaur by today’s standards though the best technology for that time. This computer was used in conjunction with the Fish and side thrusters that helped position it. But the display room had always been a curious place to me, looking more like what I thought a computer room should look like. There we were shown the film footage from the Fish, of the cable and its inline amplifier.
The display room had a large screen, perhaps six feet across by four feet high. And their equipment was able to draw on this screen an exact replica of the cable and amplifier with amazing detail. This was more helpful than a picture, for I saw something on this that I hadn’t recognized on the film footage from the Fish. It appeared to be some sort of pipe about two feet long by one inch wide. I asked the officer in charge of display what it was, and he said they didn’t know but that they were interested in it and wanted us to bring it back.
Tapping Devices
During our training dives off the California coast, we had practiced with the “clamps” (tapping devices that were put on the cable). Similar to how an auto mechanic would place a clamp around a spark plug wire to see if it has an electrical current running through it.
These clamps we used for the taps were easier to put on and take off than the old wrap-around-wire type. Each clamp was about three feet long by five inches in diameter and painted yellow. One side of the clamp could be opened, and we would place the cable inside the clamp and then close the clamp around the cable.
The clamps also had a metal wire that pulled a quick release and detached them from the cable. So that should the Soviets ever bring their cable to the surface and inspect it, they wouldn’t find our recording clamps. And if the Halibut ever felt threatened by a Soviet ship, she could, in an emergency, lift off the seafloor immediately and leave. This would leave the clamps hanging off the bottom of the sub. Though not an ideal situation, it would at least be possible for her to leave without having a saturation dive and sending divers out to disconnect the clamps.
It was necessary to position the Halibut near to the cable because the clamping devices had a relatively short wire that connected them back to the sub. We were to put seven of these clamps on each side of the amplifier. The more clamps the better for a clearer, stronger signal. If the clamps were not placed on both sides, we would only be recording communications from one direction.
CIA Release
“Pelton had compromised a costly, long running and highly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping operation involving U. S. Submarines and a high technology device.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402820034-2)
“The Beast”
The “high technology device” was the POD, which was shown on the screen. The display officer said, “The navy has developed a POD, or “Beast” as it is called, about three feet in diameter by 20 feet long. It will be left behind after our sub leaves the Sea of Okhotsk and store a year’s worth of information.
“There are tapping clamps attached to this POD, which is the power source for the recordings. You divers will need to release the POD from our sub and position it.
“This POD is powered by a mini nuclear reactor, plutonium-238. Don’t worry—you will receive less radiation from this POD than from our sub’s reactor.”
The display room had a large screen, perhaps six feet across by four feet high. And their equipment was able to draw on this screen an exact replica of the cable and amplifier with amazing detail. This was more helpful than a picture, for I saw something on this that I hadn’t recognized on the film footage from the Fish. It appeared to be some sort of pipe about two feet long by one inch wide. I asked the officer in charge of display what it was, and he said they didn’t know but that they were interested in it and wanted us to bring it back.
Tapping Devices
During our training dives off the California coast, we had practiced with the “clamps” (tapping devices that were put on the cable). Similar to how an auto mechanic would place a clamp around a spark plug wire to see if it has an electrical current running through it.
These clamps we used for the taps were easier to put on and take off than the old wrap-around-wire type. Each clamp was about three feet long by five inches in diameter and painted yellow. One side of the clamp could be opened, and we would place the cable inside the clamp and then close the clamp around the cable.
The clamps also had a metal wire that pulled a quick release and detached them from the cable. So that should the Soviets ever bring their cable to the surface and inspect it, they wouldn’t find our recording clamps. And if the Halibut ever felt threatened by a Soviet ship, she could, in an emergency, lift off the seafloor immediately and leave. This would leave the clamps hanging off the bottom of the sub. Though not an ideal situation, it would at least be possible for her to leave without having a saturation dive and sending divers out to disconnect the clamps.
It was necessary to position the Halibut near to the cable because the clamping devices had a relatively short wire that connected them back to the sub. We were to put seven of these clamps on each side of the amplifier. The more clamps the better for a clearer, stronger signal. If the clamps were not placed on both sides, we would only be recording communications from one direction.
CIA Release
“Pelton had compromised a costly, long running and highly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping operation involving U. S. Submarines and a high technology device.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402820034-2)
“The Beast”
The “high technology device” was the POD, which was shown on the screen. The display officer said, “The navy has developed a POD, or “Beast” as it is called, about three feet in diameter by 20 feet long. It will be left behind after our sub leaves the Sea of Okhotsk and store a year’s worth of information.
“There are tapping clamps attached to this POD, which is the power source for the recordings. You divers will need to release the POD from our sub and position it.
“This POD is powered by a mini nuclear reactor, plutonium-238. Don’t worry—you will receive less radiation from this POD than from our sub’s reactor.”
“However, the CIA doesn’t want to wait a year to get recordings. Therefore, because the Halibut is already here on site, while the POD is recording, we’ll also use Halibut’s clamps, which will record while we stay here. Then when we’re back in the States, we’ll hand these to the CIA.”
Display showed us a couple of more drawings from a zoomed-out position of the overall site and approximately where our sub was positioned next to the cable. On the display room’s drawings of the cable, and their projected placement of our sub, the sub and cable appeared to be very close together, especially at the bow of the sub. I made no comment about this, for Halibut had already been winched down on her anchors (called “mushrooms”) and was sitting on her skids. But I was curious to see just how close we were to the cable.
When we were done, the display officer wished us success. Our diving officer thanked him for the briefing and then shouted out four names. “Nolan, Matheny, Brown, and Bates. You four divers who will be making the first saturation dive. We’ll meet with you in the aft torpedo room. Let’s go!”
Chow Hall
On the way to the aft torpedo room, all four of us divers, plus the diving officer and master diver passed through the chow hall that had about a dozen sailors in it.
COB said to us, “Hey, guys, we’ll see you in a week. Good luck!”
The cook hollered, “Bring me back some crabs and I’ll cook them up for you!”
As we left the chow hall, James was waiting for me to pass through, I shook his hand and said, “I am still thanking God He let me do this.”
Aft Torpedo Room
The medical diving doctor, who had also gone through saturation dive school, entered the aft torpedo room.
The master diver said, “Line up for your final medical check.”
The four of us divers lined up, and the medical diving doctor spent more time looking over Bates, the second man in line, and asked, “How long have you had this sore throat?”
Bates responded, “A couple of days. It’s nothing. It doesn’t bother me at all.”
The doctor took another look and said, “Sorry Bates, but I cannot in good conscience recommend you to be on this dive.”
Bates insisted, “I’m fine. Really.”
The diving officer raised his voice and said, “Bates, step out of the line!”
The ejected diver was hurt but said nothing and left.
The master diver shouted into the engine room at a nuke. “I want you to double time it down to the mess decks and get Farinella. He is scheduled to make the next SAT dive. Tell him he is being bumped up to make the first SAT dive and to get down here now!”
The medical doctor next checked me, and when I passed, I gave a sigh of relief. Then the next diver in line was checked, and when done, the replacement diver arrived, stood in line, and he also passed.
Diving Officer said, “Thanks, Doctor. We will not be needing you now.”
The doctor left and the diving officer said, “We need to go over the schedule of the two saturation dives. They’ll be a week each and 45 days apart. The recordings of real-time conversations will be made between these two dives. Our NSA analysts tell us they expect at least eighteen channels on this one military cable.”
“Things are subject to change, but we plan for two water entries during this first saturation dive. Two divers will enter the water together, and the other two divers will tend their umbilical cords. Then on the second water entry, those who tend will enter the water.”
“Nolan and Matheny will be the first two divers to enter the water. Nolan will be designated Red Diver, or lead diver, and Matheny will be Yellow Diver. We’ll be making recordings of these dives, and though you may listen to them afterward, they’ll remain classified. You will be diving between windows in the tides to prevent fighting the currents and for better visibility.”
“We’ll take extra time to press you down to depth to help your body better acclimate to the pressure. This will take all night, so try and get some sleep. When you awake, it should be morning topside on the Sea of Okhotsk.”
Master diver spoke up, “The captain is coming in. Stand to attention.”
The captain entered and said, “At ease.”
“Well, this is what we are here for. I want you to know I will be closely following these dives. I wish you success, and I’ll meet you back here in seven days.”
Then up the stern escape hatch we went and through the cramped secondary control room, manned by two SAT divers and into our diving chamber.
Russian Acoustic Range
The technicians were surprised by a visit from Captain Nikolay of the Russian destroyer, who was very upset. Acoustic Lieutenant said, “Captain Nikolay, it’s a surprise to see you. Is there a problem?”
“Yes, there’s a problem all right! I understand you laughed about me at Naval Command and told them that the Americans tricked me. You said the sub I chased out of our sea was a decoy to distract my attention from another American sub that slipped in.”
“Look for yourself. These readouts are from the night that American sub exited out into the Pacific. That same night we originally heard a very faint sound in the channel that we radioed you about. Later, after the American sub exited out into the Pacific, our technicians went back over the recordings and found this same faint signal again, on the same course but farther into the Sea of Okhotsk. It’s not possible it was the same sub you chased after.”
Captain Nikolay asked, “Why didn’t you say something to me then?”
“When the American sub exited, she was so loud that she masked everything in the channel. It was not until she passed the outer islands that this faint sound showed up again.”
“Have you heard this sub since then?” Captain Nikolay asked.
“No. Our technicians have been looking for it, but most likely this sub is under a thermocline layer. That sub would be expected to have changed course by now. A sub in a position like that would hear you before you would hear it.”
“Give me these readouts. I’ll have my sonar man compare them,” replied Captain Nikolay, and he leaves as he came, upset.
First Saturation Dive
The third room of the habitat was flooded during transit to the dive station. So that morning after we ate breakfast, the first item of operation was to pressurize this compartment and remove all the seawater. Once the pressure was equalized between the third and second compartments (where we divers sleep), the metal door was opened. A strong rush of cold saltwater air came in from the freezing 27-degree sea, waking us up like a slap on our faces. A reminder that we were not on a training dive and everyone had a serious look, being fully alert.
We entered this third room and started getting ready for the dive. I put my hand into the seawater just to see how cold it felt, and I couldn’t hold my hand in it. The salt water tried to freeze the blood in my hand, and I could feel it go up my arm and into my heart.
The two divers who would tend our cables helped us get dressed in our dive rigs. Then the 140-degree water began pumping between our two wet suits, and once full, the hot water started spilling out around our wrists and neck, falling down to the metal grate we were standing on. This caused the third compartment to fill up with mist, making it hard to see, but went away after a few minutes.
The dive tenders using the speaker in the second room said, “Topside, Tenders: We cannot get the speaker in the dive station (third room) to work. The connecting socket appears to have been clogged up. We will have to communicate with you using the speaker in this second room. This means you will have to speak really loud if we are to hear you, because we’ll be in the third compartment tending.”
“And, Topside, be advised that because of this, when the divers are in the water, they won’t be able to speak to us or us speak to them.”
Main Diver Control was watching the tenders, Brown and Farinella, on their TV screen and said, “Tenders, Topside: We understand. But the divers will still be able to communicate with us using their headphones. Let’s try a mic check with the diver’s descrambler.”
“Red Diver, Topside. Do you read me?”
“Topside, Red Diver. Loud and clear.”
Then I, as Yellow Diver, acknowledge the same.
This procedure of stating the name of whom you were addressing and then your designation of Red or Yellow Diver was standard and seldom deviated from. But when we divers talk to each other, we just spoke normally. Other than these checks, the communications with Topside were infrequent, except to report a problem or Control asking about our progress.
First Water Entry
“Red Diver, Topside: Are you ready to move out?”
“Topside, Red Diver: Entering the water.”
Display showed us a couple of more drawings from a zoomed-out position of the overall site and approximately where our sub was positioned next to the cable. On the display room’s drawings of the cable, and their projected placement of our sub, the sub and cable appeared to be very close together, especially at the bow of the sub. I made no comment about this, for Halibut had already been winched down on her anchors (called “mushrooms”) and was sitting on her skids. But I was curious to see just how close we were to the cable.
When we were done, the display officer wished us success. Our diving officer thanked him for the briefing and then shouted out four names. “Nolan, Matheny, Brown, and Bates. You four divers who will be making the first saturation dive. We’ll meet with you in the aft torpedo room. Let’s go!”
Chow Hall
On the way to the aft torpedo room, all four of us divers, plus the diving officer and master diver passed through the chow hall that had about a dozen sailors in it.
COB said to us, “Hey, guys, we’ll see you in a week. Good luck!”
The cook hollered, “Bring me back some crabs and I’ll cook them up for you!”
As we left the chow hall, James was waiting for me to pass through, I shook his hand and said, “I am still thanking God He let me do this.”
Aft Torpedo Room
The medical diving doctor, who had also gone through saturation dive school, entered the aft torpedo room.
The master diver said, “Line up for your final medical check.”
The four of us divers lined up, and the medical diving doctor spent more time looking over Bates, the second man in line, and asked, “How long have you had this sore throat?”
Bates responded, “A couple of days. It’s nothing. It doesn’t bother me at all.”
The doctor took another look and said, “Sorry Bates, but I cannot in good conscience recommend you to be on this dive.”
Bates insisted, “I’m fine. Really.”
The diving officer raised his voice and said, “Bates, step out of the line!”
The ejected diver was hurt but said nothing and left.
The master diver shouted into the engine room at a nuke. “I want you to double time it down to the mess decks and get Farinella. He is scheduled to make the next SAT dive. Tell him he is being bumped up to make the first SAT dive and to get down here now!”
The medical doctor next checked me, and when I passed, I gave a sigh of relief. Then the next diver in line was checked, and when done, the replacement diver arrived, stood in line, and he also passed.
Diving Officer said, “Thanks, Doctor. We will not be needing you now.”
The doctor left and the diving officer said, “We need to go over the schedule of the two saturation dives. They’ll be a week each and 45 days apart. The recordings of real-time conversations will be made between these two dives. Our NSA analysts tell us they expect at least eighteen channels on this one military cable.”
“Things are subject to change, but we plan for two water entries during this first saturation dive. Two divers will enter the water together, and the other two divers will tend their umbilical cords. Then on the second water entry, those who tend will enter the water.”
“Nolan and Matheny will be the first two divers to enter the water. Nolan will be designated Red Diver, or lead diver, and Matheny will be Yellow Diver. We’ll be making recordings of these dives, and though you may listen to them afterward, they’ll remain classified. You will be diving between windows in the tides to prevent fighting the currents and for better visibility.”
“We’ll take extra time to press you down to depth to help your body better acclimate to the pressure. This will take all night, so try and get some sleep. When you awake, it should be morning topside on the Sea of Okhotsk.”
Master diver spoke up, “The captain is coming in. Stand to attention.”
The captain entered and said, “At ease.”
“Well, this is what we are here for. I want you to know I will be closely following these dives. I wish you success, and I’ll meet you back here in seven days.”
Then up the stern escape hatch we went and through the cramped secondary control room, manned by two SAT divers and into our diving chamber.
Russian Acoustic Range
The technicians were surprised by a visit from Captain Nikolay of the Russian destroyer, who was very upset. Acoustic Lieutenant said, “Captain Nikolay, it’s a surprise to see you. Is there a problem?”
“Yes, there’s a problem all right! I understand you laughed about me at Naval Command and told them that the Americans tricked me. You said the sub I chased out of our sea was a decoy to distract my attention from another American sub that slipped in.”
“Look for yourself. These readouts are from the night that American sub exited out into the Pacific. That same night we originally heard a very faint sound in the channel that we radioed you about. Later, after the American sub exited out into the Pacific, our technicians went back over the recordings and found this same faint signal again, on the same course but farther into the Sea of Okhotsk. It’s not possible it was the same sub you chased after.”
Captain Nikolay asked, “Why didn’t you say something to me then?”
“When the American sub exited, she was so loud that she masked everything in the channel. It was not until she passed the outer islands that this faint sound showed up again.”
“Have you heard this sub since then?” Captain Nikolay asked.
“No. Our technicians have been looking for it, but most likely this sub is under a thermocline layer. That sub would be expected to have changed course by now. A sub in a position like that would hear you before you would hear it.”
“Give me these readouts. I’ll have my sonar man compare them,” replied Captain Nikolay, and he leaves as he came, upset.
First Saturation Dive
The third room of the habitat was flooded during transit to the dive station. So that morning after we ate breakfast, the first item of operation was to pressurize this compartment and remove all the seawater. Once the pressure was equalized between the third and second compartments (where we divers sleep), the metal door was opened. A strong rush of cold saltwater air came in from the freezing 27-degree sea, waking us up like a slap on our faces. A reminder that we were not on a training dive and everyone had a serious look, being fully alert.
We entered this third room and started getting ready for the dive. I put my hand into the seawater just to see how cold it felt, and I couldn’t hold my hand in it. The salt water tried to freeze the blood in my hand, and I could feel it go up my arm and into my heart.
The two divers who would tend our cables helped us get dressed in our dive rigs. Then the 140-degree water began pumping between our two wet suits, and once full, the hot water started spilling out around our wrists and neck, falling down to the metal grate we were standing on. This caused the third compartment to fill up with mist, making it hard to see, but went away after a few minutes.
The dive tenders using the speaker in the second room said, “Topside, Tenders: We cannot get the speaker in the dive station (third room) to work. The connecting socket appears to have been clogged up. We will have to communicate with you using the speaker in this second room. This means you will have to speak really loud if we are to hear you, because we’ll be in the third compartment tending.”
“And, Topside, be advised that because of this, when the divers are in the water, they won’t be able to speak to us or us speak to them.”
Main Diver Control was watching the tenders, Brown and Farinella, on their TV screen and said, “Tenders, Topside: We understand. But the divers will still be able to communicate with us using their headphones. Let’s try a mic check with the diver’s descrambler.”
“Red Diver, Topside. Do you read me?”
“Topside, Red Diver. Loud and clear.”
Then I, as Yellow Diver, acknowledge the same.
This procedure of stating the name of whom you were addressing and then your designation of Red or Yellow Diver was standard and seldom deviated from. But when we divers talk to each other, we just spoke normally. Other than these checks, the communications with Topside were infrequent, except to report a problem or Control asking about our progress.
First Water Entry
“Red Diver, Topside: Are you ready to move out?”
“Topside, Red Diver: Entering the water.”
After he entered the frigid sea, I followed, and the tenders started letting out our cables. We were done with our dress rehearsals and had made it past all the hurdles, and I was enjoying it!
It was 40 feet from where we enter the water to the seafloor. One of the things I liked to do when I dove at the Island of Diego Garcia, and later at Guam, was to drift down backward to the seabed. I would have my back toward the seafloor and my face looking up at the surface of the water and watch the bubbles from my dive rig go through my fins on their way to the surface. We had negative buoyancy with the lead weights in our wet suits, and it would take less than a minute to reach the bottom. But on our mission, there were no bubbles from our dive rigs, no surface to see—only the blackness of the sea.
It was morning topside on the Sea of Okhotsk, but this did little to help light up the seafloor 400 feet below. We had started our first dive right after the current had subsided, and there was still silt in the seawater. Our visibility in the icy-cold water, even when using our lights, was at best only six feet. Though, when the silt settled down, we could see a few feet more. When next to our sub, we could see even more, with the aid of the lights that were on the bottom of the Halibut.
The sea itself held little scenery at 400 feet; the silt and sand at the bottom were gray in color. There were some strange-looking fish about 18 inches long, with heads almost half the size of their bodies, eyeballs bigger than a human’s, and huge mouths. These fish weren’t afraid; they swam right up to us and stared. Some even sat in the silt on the sea bottom, still gazing up at us—eerie. One tried to swallow my flashlight, but I knocked him off. (Our lights were not mounted on our helmet but attached to our wet suits by a small rope.) There were also some giant king crabs, about two feet across, slowly walking on the seafloor. Except for these, I saw no other sea life.
The Russian cable couldn’t be seen when we were next to the sub because of the darkness of the sea. But we knew it was close, maybe 30 feet from us, so Nolan and I swam at a right angle away from our sub until we found the cable. It was three inches in diameter (not five inches, as is commonly reported). The cable was parallel to our sub and thirty feet up the cable, we found the amplifier, with its strong signal.
We had traveled under the ocean more than 6,000 miles and had “parked” our submarine 30 feet from the Russian cable and its transponder. The equivalent of the proverbial saying of finding a needle in a haystack. But for the next several years it would become a routine.
Ours for the Taking
We were the first people to ever dive on this transponder. But there lying before us, was the mother lode of intel flowing through that one cable. I’d heard that it cost one billion dollars to get us to this point. But for a few seconds, we just floated there in the sea, looking at it. The Russians didn’t know we were there, nor anyone else. All these secrets were ours for the taking, 24/7, as long as we stayed. But we were just staring at the cable, with the blackness of the sea all around us. It was as though we needed someone to tell us, “OK, guys, do something!” Then Nolan said, “Well, I guess I should get a clamp.”
While he swam back to the sub to open a panel that had the tapping clamps, I inspected the forward skid. I wanted to see if the Russian cable, which was parallel to our sub, may have veered off toward the bow, as it appeared in the drawings in the display room.
I followed the cable toward the bow, and, yes, it went right under the front port skid! Halibut weighs five thousand tons, which was divided up on the four skids. So, in theory, over a thousand tons of metal were cutting into the cable. This was one time I deviated from the standard communications procedure—this time I just said, “Topside, we got a problem!”
The master diver was manning the phones in the Main Diver Control, and he also didn’t follow the normal procedure, which should have been: “Yellow Diver, Topside: What is it?”
Instead, he just said, “What, Garry?!” He could read the tone of my voice and knew it was a real problem.
“Our sub is sitting on the cable.”
“No!” was his one-word response.
“Topside, yes, it is! The forward port skid is sitting on the cable.”
For the next few minutes, Main Diver Control and the captain discuss what they should do. Then someone suggested we take one of the clamps and see if we could get a recording. If we had cut through the cable or shorted it out, there would be no signal running through it. We gave that a try, and the spooks from NSA, who were manning the readout on their screens, phoned Main Diver Control and told them they had a good recording. Then Red Diver and I who were slowly drifting in the darkness and quietness of the sea, heard over our intercom loud cheers from the inside of our sub.
We hadn’t cut through the cable—but it was still a problem. The seabed wasn’t that soft and had rocks in it. The Halibut, when sitting on her skids, could rock from side to side if a surface storm was large enough, as could happen in the Sea of Okhotsk. On one of the training saturation dives off the coast of San Francisco, while sitting on the seafloor at 420 feet, a bad surface storm rocked Halibut. This rocking was strong enough to lift the sub off the skids on one side and then rock back and lift her off the skids on the other side.
There was also a concern that if we tried to lift the Halibut off the seafloor, she might not lift smoothly off the seabed, but sway as she broke free and possibly sever the cable.
Before Topside could make any decision on what to do, they wanted us to explain how the cable entered under the skid and how far it was till it came out the other side. This first water-entry dive was cut short because of this unexpected problem, and we returned to our habitat. Nolan made sketches of exactly where the cable entered under the skid, and these were sent to Main Diver Control.
Second Water Entry
On this water entry a problem occurred—a problem no one had ever considered a possibility.
The second water entry was tasked with two jobs. First, clear away the cable from under the port skid, and second, to film what we were doing.
Diver Control decided that an underwater fire hose would be used to clear the seabed away from the cable and pull it free. We were well prepared and had such a hose stowed inside a panel on the bottom of the sub. Nolan was picked to be Red Diver again, as he was the only one who had operated this underwater fire hose before. While he and Brown headed out on this second dive, Farinella and I tended their umbilical cables.
Much of the second water entry was taken up with clearing away enough sand, silt, and rocks to move the cable out from under this skid. The cable itself was bent but not cut into.
Then Nolan and Brown were to film everything, so they brought out the swimming eyeball (Eye) through the aquarium. The Eye would film the cable, amplifier, and the one clamp to show to higher-ups in Washington, D.C. This three-foot round Eye, with its thrusters, could maneuver well enough by itself if there was no current from the tide. It received its electrical current via a cord that was let down through the aquarium, and if need be, a diver could untangle its cord.
It was 40 feet from where we enter the water to the seafloor. One of the things I liked to do when I dove at the Island of Diego Garcia, and later at Guam, was to drift down backward to the seabed. I would have my back toward the seafloor and my face looking up at the surface of the water and watch the bubbles from my dive rig go through my fins on their way to the surface. We had negative buoyancy with the lead weights in our wet suits, and it would take less than a minute to reach the bottom. But on our mission, there were no bubbles from our dive rigs, no surface to see—only the blackness of the sea.
It was morning topside on the Sea of Okhotsk, but this did little to help light up the seafloor 400 feet below. We had started our first dive right after the current had subsided, and there was still silt in the seawater. Our visibility in the icy-cold water, even when using our lights, was at best only six feet. Though, when the silt settled down, we could see a few feet more. When next to our sub, we could see even more, with the aid of the lights that were on the bottom of the Halibut.
The sea itself held little scenery at 400 feet; the silt and sand at the bottom were gray in color. There were some strange-looking fish about 18 inches long, with heads almost half the size of their bodies, eyeballs bigger than a human’s, and huge mouths. These fish weren’t afraid; they swam right up to us and stared. Some even sat in the silt on the sea bottom, still gazing up at us—eerie. One tried to swallow my flashlight, but I knocked him off. (Our lights were not mounted on our helmet but attached to our wet suits by a small rope.) There were also some giant king crabs, about two feet across, slowly walking on the seafloor. Except for these, I saw no other sea life.
The Russian cable couldn’t be seen when we were next to the sub because of the darkness of the sea. But we knew it was close, maybe 30 feet from us, so Nolan and I swam at a right angle away from our sub until we found the cable. It was three inches in diameter (not five inches, as is commonly reported). The cable was parallel to our sub and thirty feet up the cable, we found the amplifier, with its strong signal.
We had traveled under the ocean more than 6,000 miles and had “parked” our submarine 30 feet from the Russian cable and its transponder. The equivalent of the proverbial saying of finding a needle in a haystack. But for the next several years it would become a routine.
Ours for the Taking
We were the first people to ever dive on this transponder. But there lying before us, was the mother lode of intel flowing through that one cable. I’d heard that it cost one billion dollars to get us to this point. But for a few seconds, we just floated there in the sea, looking at it. The Russians didn’t know we were there, nor anyone else. All these secrets were ours for the taking, 24/7, as long as we stayed. But we were just staring at the cable, with the blackness of the sea all around us. It was as though we needed someone to tell us, “OK, guys, do something!” Then Nolan said, “Well, I guess I should get a clamp.”
While he swam back to the sub to open a panel that had the tapping clamps, I inspected the forward skid. I wanted to see if the Russian cable, which was parallel to our sub, may have veered off toward the bow, as it appeared in the drawings in the display room.
I followed the cable toward the bow, and, yes, it went right under the front port skid! Halibut weighs five thousand tons, which was divided up on the four skids. So, in theory, over a thousand tons of metal were cutting into the cable. This was one time I deviated from the standard communications procedure—this time I just said, “Topside, we got a problem!”
The master diver was manning the phones in the Main Diver Control, and he also didn’t follow the normal procedure, which should have been: “Yellow Diver, Topside: What is it?”
Instead, he just said, “What, Garry?!” He could read the tone of my voice and knew it was a real problem.
“Our sub is sitting on the cable.”
“No!” was his one-word response.
“Topside, yes, it is! The forward port skid is sitting on the cable.”
For the next few minutes, Main Diver Control and the captain discuss what they should do. Then someone suggested we take one of the clamps and see if we could get a recording. If we had cut through the cable or shorted it out, there would be no signal running through it. We gave that a try, and the spooks from NSA, who were manning the readout on their screens, phoned Main Diver Control and told them they had a good recording. Then Red Diver and I who were slowly drifting in the darkness and quietness of the sea, heard over our intercom loud cheers from the inside of our sub.
We hadn’t cut through the cable—but it was still a problem. The seabed wasn’t that soft and had rocks in it. The Halibut, when sitting on her skids, could rock from side to side if a surface storm was large enough, as could happen in the Sea of Okhotsk. On one of the training saturation dives off the coast of San Francisco, while sitting on the seafloor at 420 feet, a bad surface storm rocked Halibut. This rocking was strong enough to lift the sub off the skids on one side and then rock back and lift her off the skids on the other side.
There was also a concern that if we tried to lift the Halibut off the seafloor, she might not lift smoothly off the seabed, but sway as she broke free and possibly sever the cable.
Before Topside could make any decision on what to do, they wanted us to explain how the cable entered under the skid and how far it was till it came out the other side. This first water-entry dive was cut short because of this unexpected problem, and we returned to our habitat. Nolan made sketches of exactly where the cable entered under the skid, and these were sent to Main Diver Control.
Second Water Entry
On this water entry a problem occurred—a problem no one had ever considered a possibility.
The second water entry was tasked with two jobs. First, clear away the cable from under the port skid, and second, to film what we were doing.
Diver Control decided that an underwater fire hose would be used to clear the seabed away from the cable and pull it free. We were well prepared and had such a hose stowed inside a panel on the bottom of the sub. Nolan was picked to be Red Diver again, as he was the only one who had operated this underwater fire hose before. While he and Brown headed out on this second dive, Farinella and I tended their umbilical cables.
Much of the second water entry was taken up with clearing away enough sand, silt, and rocks to move the cable out from under this skid. The cable itself was bent but not cut into.
Then Nolan and Brown were to film everything, so they brought out the swimming eyeball (Eye) through the aquarium. The Eye would film the cable, amplifier, and the one clamp to show to higher-ups in Washington, D.C. This three-foot round Eye, with its thrusters, could maneuver well enough by itself if there was no current from the tide. It received its electrical current via a cord that was let down through the aquarium, and if need be, a diver could untangle its cord.
Our NSA spooks had special equipment set up that could take all the different channels running through the cable and separate them. Even though the recordings had come from the outside of this Soviet cable. So when the NSA analysts back in the States started deciphering, they wouldn’t be listening to all the channels at once, which would be like listening to 18 people speak at the same time.
We used the inductive mode of recording, as we weren’t splicing or cutting into the cable. And if someone can pick up a signal from the outside of a cable, produced by its electromagnetic field, then the reverse is also true. If another source of electricity (the Eye, with its thrusters, lights, and cameras) came close to the cable, it could project a signal onto the cable. The spooks who were observing their screens in our sub, notice that the Eye was causing some static on the cable. Not just sound, but also making the readout look fuzzy. But they still could receive all the channels off the cable, each one being displayed on the same screen, parallel to each other.
But then, unexpectedly, a diver’s fin appeared on one of the NSA analyst’s screens! Then the diver’s leg and then both fins and the trunk of his body appeared, and this image of the diver then swam across the analyst’s screen!
In a panic the NSA analyst took off running through our sub on his way to the CONN. (He later told me he knocked over a man on his way down the narrow passageway.) He raced up the ladder and into the CONN, hollering, “Shut off the Eye! Shut it off! Shut off the Eye now!”
This message was relayed to the display room that was controlling the Eye and the divers were told to move back from the cable. Then the NSA analyst explained to the captain that there was enough of an electromagnetic field generated by the Eye (when it came close to the cable) to project a fuzzy image onto the cable. A diver had swum between the cable and the Eye, and wherever the diver’s body blocked the electromagnetic field of the Eye, it was no longer picked up by the cable. As a result, on the screen, the fuzzy static was only seen around the outline of his body, thus showing the outline of the diver’s image.
The concern was, that those who were using this cable might also have watched this at the Soviet fleet base at Petropavlovsk, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, or in Siberia, at Vladivostok.
The display officer came to the CONN and talked to the captain and Main Diver Control about what had happened. “Captain, besides the fact that this was only for a few seconds, the equipment and screens of the NSA are of special design. Though the Russians could make something like this, they would have no need for it. The Russians only need telephone receivers to listen to someone on the other end of their cable. But because we are taking this from the outside of the cable, we developed new equipment to verify that the different channels are each being separated and not mixed together. The Russians couldn’t have seen the diver because they would have no need for such equipment like this.”
(According to the History Channel documentary Blind Man’s Bluff, the submarine that took Halibut’s place was reported to have slammed down on the cable during a storm. But even this didn’t alert the Soviets. The same documentary acknowledged that it was Ronald Pelton who gave away this operation, not a storm or some unforeseen problem.)
Halibut’s Sonar Man
“Captain, on sonar we picked up a Russian destroyer that is using active sonar pinging into the sea. He is several miles away from us and no threat now, but I thought I should bring it to your attention.”
“Yes,” said the captain, “and keep me informed if he comes any closer to us.”
USS Stingray
The captain of Stingray said, “XO, I want you to take the CONN. But be advised that the Russian destroyer that tried to follow us out of the Kuril Islands is back and he is pinging on the seafloor. It’s doubtful she will find us under this thermocline layer, but the Halibut is above the thermocline. Still, that destroyer would have to be almost on top of the Halibut to pick her up sitting on the seafloor. ”
XO asked, “How far off is it?”
“Too far off right now to be any threat; it’s near to the area where Halibut first entered this sea. But we’ll need to keep an eye on her. That destroyer is probably looking for the Halibut. Sonar told me that the Halibut may never have heard that destroyer the night she entered this sea, since we came between where we believed Halibut was and that Russian destroyer. Thus, we masked not only the noise of the Halibut from the destroyer but we would have also masked the sound of the destroyer from the Halibut. Halibut wouldn’t know that it’s her they are looking for her.”
XO responded, “Maybe that destroyer is only looking for more intrusions into their sea.”
“It’s possible, but be aware of it. You have the CONN.”
Last Water Entry
This third water entry started off with a “hiccup,” then success, and then a serious problem.
Both Farinella and I who had tended for the previous dive were picked to make the third, and final, water entry of this first round of saturation dives. This time, I was designated Red Diver and Farinella was Yellow Diver.
On the first water entry some gas leaked under my face mask, which was attached to the one-eighth-inch neoprene liner. The gas seeped over my head and was trapped under the liner, causing my face mask to rise up on my face.
On this last water entry I didn’t want to fight my face mask again, so I had this “bright” idea to cut two small holes in the thin liner so any bubbles could go through it and not cause my mask to rise up. The problem was, I didn’t realize it would take time for the hot water to circulate up that high in my wet suit. So when I entered the sea, in came the freezing cold water straight to my head. It felt like someone was driving two spikes into my brain.
I wasn’t sure what to do, and when those in Main Diver Control kept asking through our communication system why I wasn’t moving out, I stalled for time. A diver just didn’t bail out and crawl back into the dive chamber; he might not be allowed to make the dive, as another diver could take his place. Fortunately, after a couple of minutes the hot water circulated up to my head, and I was able to make the dive.
Only one clamp had been attached, and we had several more to put on. Also we had not yet placed even one clamp on the opposite side of the amplifier. Therefore we were only getting one-way communications and hadn’t achieved one of our main goals of our mission. The transmissions that had been recorded on Halibut’s previous deployments were only from Eastern Siberia.
When Yellow diver entered the water we went straight to where the clamps were stowed. I took one and went to the cable, found the amplifier, and put the clamp on the opposite side of the amplifier.
“Topside, Red Diver: I have placed a clamp on the far side of the amplifier. You want to check with the spooks to see if they’re recording Moscow?”
A couple of minutes passed, and once again we heard over our diver intercom, a cheer come up from the Main Diver Control.
Topside said, “Great, guys! The signal is coming in really strong from off that amplifier. There is going to be some happy people back home.” (The 1975 deployment of the Halibut was the first to achieve two-way communications.)
“Red Diver, Topside. You divers will need to release the POD from our sub. Once you have it in position, start putting on the clamps that are attached to it.”
Once the POD was in position and while Farinella was putting on the clamps, I looked for what I thought was a pipe we had seen on the screen in the display room. I knew approximately where it should be and only swam a short distance until I found it. It turned out not to be a pipe but the hard, white plastic core from the center of the cable. When the Soviets had spliced in the new section, they had dropped a piece overboard.
This center core of the cable had six or seven copper wires, each one about an eighth-inch thick, twisted together on the inside of this hard, white plastic. We divers wanted to cut it into pieces as souvenirs, but the project officers wanted all of it.
Red Light!
We were almost finished and working on the last couple of clamps, when on the inside of my face mask, I saw a red light. This light was triggered by a decrease in pressure from my come-home bottle for emergency return. So either my hose had been bent sharply enough to block the flow of gas, or somehow it had been cut. I knew it wasn’t a problem with the push-pull system that sends the gas to us, because Farinella was not having any problem.
I immediately said, “Topside, Red Diver: I have a red light!”
The quick, calm reply was, “Red Diver, Topside; return to the Dive Station.” Those who were over us were professionals. They knew that the tone of their voice could calm someone down and assure them. Nonetheless, it was serious, I had a red light in my face. This warned a diver that he only had a few minutes to get back or he died!
Though the voice from topside was calm, they were not sitting back in their chairs. The diving officer had the medical officer start a stopwatch. He was to remind them when five minutes had passed.
USS Stingray
Stingray’s sonar man said, “Captain, you said to tell you if there was an aspect change on that Russian destroyer. Well there is, she has started a much wider loop. If she continues on her present course, that destroyer will be near the Halibut in less than ten minutes.”
“How near?”
“It’s hard to say, but perhaps within a half mile of Halibut. The Halibut is vulnerable.”
The captain ordered, “CONN, Captain: Let’s go shallow above the thermocline. And tell forward torpedo room to ready tube number three. XO, ready our weapons system.”
USS Halibut
Halibut’s sonar man said, “Captain, that Russian destroyer I told you about before has moved out of its search area. It now seems to be headed close to us. It’s not moving in a straight course, so it’s hard to judge, but definitely closer than before. Perhaps within a mile of us, and she will be here in a few minutes.”
“Keep me abreast of her movement.”
Over the sub’s intercom: “This is the captain; go to all quiet.”
Then Captain Larson stepped over to the Main Diver Control and said, “Diving officer tell the divers to get out of the water now!”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Yellow Diver, Topside: stop whatever you’re doing and return to Dive Station, now!”
Diving Officer then said, “Captain, be advised. Red Diver, Matheny, is already coming back; he had a warning light come on in his helmet.”
“How serious is this?”
“Something has malfunctioned. It could be his diving rig, or his gas supply has been blocked. Matheny has an emergency return bottle for this. We’re timing him. If he goes straight back, he should make it.”
Soviet Destroyer
Captain Nikolay was upset that his name was laughed at by those in the acoustic range. And his desire to find an American sub was second to his desire to prove himself right and the Russian acoustic range wrong.
“Sonar, have you found anything yet?”
Sonar replies, “No, Captain. Maybe our acoustic range has something.”
Captain Nikolay hollers into the ship’s communications, “They’re useless!”
The scene on the Russian destroyer is tense and the crew is on edge, afraid to upset their captain.
Halibut’s Divers Are in the Water
I had all 350 feet of my umbilical cable out, and the communication box in the third room of the dive chamber didn’t work. I had no way to tell the tenders I was on emergency return and to help bring in my umbilical cable.
Pings from the Russian destroyer could be heard by us divers and were growing louder. The pings were also affecting the communications between us and Topside.
“Topside, Yellow Diver: What’s these pings we’re hearing?”
“Yellow Diver, Topside: Say again.”
“Topside: What’s the noise?!”
Main Diver Control with raised voice, “Yellow Diver, Topside: We have a visitor, return now!”
Dive Tender
Dive Tender, using the communication box from the second room, asked, “Topside, Tender: What’s the pinging from?”
“We’ll explain later. Just get the divers in, especially Matheny, he has a red light.”
Red Diver
I was a few minutes ahead of Yellow Diver and reached the side of the sub. I swam up from the seafloor to the top of the Halibut, dragging all 350 feet of my umbilical cable. As soon as I reached the top of the sub, I went aft to find the DSRV. The visibility was poor, about five feet without my light.
The tenders had started to bring in my cable, which caused my cable to drift out in the sea and was pulling on me from a right angle. This made it hard to hang on to our sub as the surface near to the DSRV was slippery, and the only thing to grab hold of would be a leg of the DSRV. I glanced at the red light in my face mask, which was reminding me I was running out of time.
I made it to the first leg of the DSRV but my umbilical cable was now causing me to slide off the top of the sub. Trying to prevent myself from slipping off our sub, I went on the inside of the first leg of the DSRV. But this only made a bad situation worse.
I should have gone on the outside of the first leg of the DSRV because when I had entered the water, that was the side I was on. But instead, I went on the other side and, as a result, wrapped my umbilical cable around this metal leg. Because of this, every time the tenders pulled on my umbilical to bring me back into the dive chamber, it had the opposite effect and I was pulled backward from where I needed to go. And when I pulled up on my umbilical cable, it was pulled out of the hands of the tenders. In essence we were playing tug-of-war with my umbilical cable, though at the time neither the tenders nor I knew why this was happening.
I pulled up more of my cable so it wouldn’t drag me back and then tried to reach the next leg of the DSRV. I only went a few feet before my cable stopped moving, not budging at all. Then suddenly my umbilical cable yanked me backward!
I was at a loss to understand how this could be happening. My feet landed back onto the leg of the DSRV, which prevented me from sliding back any farther. I pulled up on my cable, about 30 feet, giving me enough slack to make a dash for the next leg coming down from the DSRV. I made it!
From there I saw the light shining down in the water from the entry point back into the dive chamber. I pulled up a few more feet of my cable, intending to push off this last leg. But, again, I was jerked backward and with a sharp pull!
Main Diver Control
The medical officer said, “The five minutes are up. Red Diver has only two minutes, possibly less.”
“He is fine,” said the master diver. “We have timed this before. From where he was at, it takes five minutes to get back. He’ll be back any moment.”
Dive Tenders
Nolan and Brown, who were trying to bring me back in, had my umbilical cable jerked out of their hands. “What’s going on?!” asks Nolan. “Yellow Diver wouldn’t have pulled back Red Diver’s cable, and why would Red diver do it?” But mindful of Topside’s order to “especially” get Red Diver in, the tenders grabbed hold of my cable and tried again.
Red Diver
I had made almost a hundred dives using a cable and never had such a situation before. So who was pulling me away from the dive chamber? And what was it that had caused my gas flow to be blocked and triggered my emergency bottle? I was now remembering what the sonar man had told me about killer whales being in the area, and wondered if one of them had found my umbilical cable and decided to “play with it.” The Russian destroyer’s pings were echoing in my ears and the red light was warning me my emergency bottle was about to be empty.
I had emptied my air tanks a couple of times at Diego Garcia while making scuba dives. What happens is, it becomes increasing harder to draw a breath of air. Each succeeding breath fills your lungs with less air, until there is nothing left to breathe, in a short time one would suffocate. But at Diego Garcia we rarely dove deeper than 60 feet and all one had to do, was go to the surface and breathe. But there is no such escape from a saturation dive.
I pulled up a few more feet of my cable and pushes off the last leg of the DSRV. As I did this I reach out for the entry point, but once more I was jerked backward and this time my face mask slammed into the leg of the DSRV. I hurriedly grabbed back on to this leg to prevent getting dragged back even farther.
It was my dream to make this dive, but not to die doing it. And I had the thought, Am I getting back?
Main Diver Control
The medical officer warned, “Forty seconds!”
Diving officer raises his voice, “Master Diver, ask Matheny where he’s at.”
“Sir, the communications with the divers is not going to work. Last time we spoke to Yellow Diver, both of us had to holler at each other to be heard, and now the pings are louder.”
The diving officer ordered, “Check with the tenders!”
“Tenders, Topside: Can you see Red Diver in the water?” The diving officer and master diver saw the tenders on their TV screens, shaking their heads no.
Nolan, who was tending said, “No, Topside. And be advised Red Diver’s cable is being ripped out of our hands!”
“He has 20 seconds,” said the medical officer.
“Where is he?” asked the diving officer.
Red Diver
I wanted to go back and see what it was that was pulling me away from the DSRV. But there was no time left, I had no idea why this was happening and physically I was drained.
I did the only thing I could do—I tried to pull up more cable, but it wouldn’t budge. Unbeknown to me, the tenders were pulling my cable from the opposite direction. I then wrapped my legs around the leg of the DSRV, and with both hands I pulled toward me about six feet of my cable. Once more I pushed off and tried to make it to the entry point. Thankfully, this time I make it, and a minute later, Yellow Diver followed.
My cable was discounted from my wet suite and drop back into the water. The tenders then pulled it back around the DSRV and into the dive chamber.
The tenders hurriedly started taking off our suits and equipment. As they were doing this Yellow diver said, “You all heard the pings. The Russians know we’re here!”
Brown said, “Hey, the pinging has stopped.”
The four of us divers listened momentary for the pings. We weren’t sure what to make of the silence, but being inside of the main dive chamber (where we decompress) would be the safest place.
I said, “I don’t know if our sub is leaving, but she won’t lift off the bottom until we have closed the outer chamber door.” All four of us then quickly enter our dive chamber and shut the metal door.
Soviet Destroyer
Captain Nikolay hollered over the ship’s intercom, “Who stopped the pinging?!”
The sonar man responds, “Captain, good news! Our assistant sonar man has been going over that readout you gave us from our acoustic range, and he has come across a faint sound identical to that readout! We turned off the pings to see if we could hear it better. Not only have we found it but also that same American fast attack sub you chased out before. They are both less than two kilometers from here!”
“Great! Give the duty officer the coordinates. And if you can follow those subs using passive sonar then keep using it.”
“Radio Room, tell our acoustic range to wake up! Let them know we have found what they couldn’t. And Radio Room, be sure you tell them just like I’m telling you!”
After Captain Nikolay stopped using the ship’s intercom, he says to himself, “I’ll show them!” He then gave chase at flank speed.
USS Stingray
Stingray’s Captain and XO are standing outside their Sonar Room. “Captain, the destroyer is giving chase.” said the sonar man.
Stingray’s captain said, “Very good! Officer on Deck, let’s get our sub out of here and if that Russian wants to give chase, all the better.”
Soviet Destroyer
Over the intercom, the destroyer’s radio man said, “Captain, our acoustic range has confirmed they also hear both subs, and I told them we are already pursuing them.”
Captain Nikolay tells the officer on deck, “Make ready our weapons system.”
“Sonar, how far away is the faster sub?”
There is a brief pause, then Captain Nikolay who is irritated says, “Sonar, I’m waiting for a response!”
The sonar man said over the intercom, “Captain, I think you better come here.”
Captain Nikolay rushed to the sonar room, “What?”
“Captain, we’ll never catch that fast-attack American sub. And that slower sub was not a sub at all. It was a countermeasure.”
“Countermeasure?!”
“I’m afraid so. It’s no longer making any sound, and I heard it hit the seafloor. The sound it made at impact with the seabed was too weak to be anything but a countermeasure.”
“We were told at sonar school that the Americans were believed to be working on such a countermeasure. It’s designed to replicate the sound of their submarine, and it plays this into the water. We have been chasing a recording of a sub, not a real sub. They’ve tricked us again. Captain, I’m sorry about this.”
Captain Nikolay blurted out, “I’m not sorry! I just proved there was no second submarine. The Americans are only using countermeasure. It was our acoustic range that was tricked, not me! I can’t wait to see their faces when I tell them that! And again, I have chased an American submarine out of our waters!”
Chapter XXVIII
Home!
The success of this mission brought a joy to many, and even little pieces of information were passed along to share in the success of it. The captain and project officers were eager to tell those in the States that it was a success, as they were waiting in anticipation of our mission’s results. After leaving the Sea of Okhotsk, Halibut was a full ten days out in the Pacific before a radio message was sent with a simple, “USS Halibut, all is success!”
It was a bright sunny day when our sub and crew safely returned to San Francisco Bay. As the Halibut approaches the Golden Gate Bridge, a huge sign made by the wives of the submariners could be seen hanging from it: “Welcome Home USS Halibut!”
Under the Golden Gate, while still in route to Mare Island, the Halibut was met by a naval vessel that came alongside to receive our recordings. All the recordings had been placed in plastic bags in case they fell overboard.
We used the inductive mode of recording, as we weren’t splicing or cutting into the cable. And if someone can pick up a signal from the outside of a cable, produced by its electromagnetic field, then the reverse is also true. If another source of electricity (the Eye, with its thrusters, lights, and cameras) came close to the cable, it could project a signal onto the cable. The spooks who were observing their screens in our sub, notice that the Eye was causing some static on the cable. Not just sound, but also making the readout look fuzzy. But they still could receive all the channels off the cable, each one being displayed on the same screen, parallel to each other.
But then, unexpectedly, a diver’s fin appeared on one of the NSA analyst’s screens! Then the diver’s leg and then both fins and the trunk of his body appeared, and this image of the diver then swam across the analyst’s screen!
In a panic the NSA analyst took off running through our sub on his way to the CONN. (He later told me he knocked over a man on his way down the narrow passageway.) He raced up the ladder and into the CONN, hollering, “Shut off the Eye! Shut it off! Shut off the Eye now!”
This message was relayed to the display room that was controlling the Eye and the divers were told to move back from the cable. Then the NSA analyst explained to the captain that there was enough of an electromagnetic field generated by the Eye (when it came close to the cable) to project a fuzzy image onto the cable. A diver had swum between the cable and the Eye, and wherever the diver’s body blocked the electromagnetic field of the Eye, it was no longer picked up by the cable. As a result, on the screen, the fuzzy static was only seen around the outline of his body, thus showing the outline of the diver’s image.
The concern was, that those who were using this cable might also have watched this at the Soviet fleet base at Petropavlovsk, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, or in Siberia, at Vladivostok.
The display officer came to the CONN and talked to the captain and Main Diver Control about what had happened. “Captain, besides the fact that this was only for a few seconds, the equipment and screens of the NSA are of special design. Though the Russians could make something like this, they would have no need for it. The Russians only need telephone receivers to listen to someone on the other end of their cable. But because we are taking this from the outside of the cable, we developed new equipment to verify that the different channels are each being separated and not mixed together. The Russians couldn’t have seen the diver because they would have no need for such equipment like this.”
(According to the History Channel documentary Blind Man’s Bluff, the submarine that took Halibut’s place was reported to have slammed down on the cable during a storm. But even this didn’t alert the Soviets. The same documentary acknowledged that it was Ronald Pelton who gave away this operation, not a storm or some unforeseen problem.)
Halibut’s Sonar Man
“Captain, on sonar we picked up a Russian destroyer that is using active sonar pinging into the sea. He is several miles away from us and no threat now, but I thought I should bring it to your attention.”
“Yes,” said the captain, “and keep me informed if he comes any closer to us.”
USS Stingray
The captain of Stingray said, “XO, I want you to take the CONN. But be advised that the Russian destroyer that tried to follow us out of the Kuril Islands is back and he is pinging on the seafloor. It’s doubtful she will find us under this thermocline layer, but the Halibut is above the thermocline. Still, that destroyer would have to be almost on top of the Halibut to pick her up sitting on the seafloor. ”
XO asked, “How far off is it?”
“Too far off right now to be any threat; it’s near to the area where Halibut first entered this sea. But we’ll need to keep an eye on her. That destroyer is probably looking for the Halibut. Sonar told me that the Halibut may never have heard that destroyer the night she entered this sea, since we came between where we believed Halibut was and that Russian destroyer. Thus, we masked not only the noise of the Halibut from the destroyer but we would have also masked the sound of the destroyer from the Halibut. Halibut wouldn’t know that it’s her they are looking for her.”
XO responded, “Maybe that destroyer is only looking for more intrusions into their sea.”
“It’s possible, but be aware of it. You have the CONN.”
Last Water Entry
This third water entry started off with a “hiccup,” then success, and then a serious problem.
Both Farinella and I who had tended for the previous dive were picked to make the third, and final, water entry of this first round of saturation dives. This time, I was designated Red Diver and Farinella was Yellow Diver.
On the first water entry some gas leaked under my face mask, which was attached to the one-eighth-inch neoprene liner. The gas seeped over my head and was trapped under the liner, causing my face mask to rise up on my face.
On this last water entry I didn’t want to fight my face mask again, so I had this “bright” idea to cut two small holes in the thin liner so any bubbles could go through it and not cause my mask to rise up. The problem was, I didn’t realize it would take time for the hot water to circulate up that high in my wet suit. So when I entered the sea, in came the freezing cold water straight to my head. It felt like someone was driving two spikes into my brain.
I wasn’t sure what to do, and when those in Main Diver Control kept asking through our communication system why I wasn’t moving out, I stalled for time. A diver just didn’t bail out and crawl back into the dive chamber; he might not be allowed to make the dive, as another diver could take his place. Fortunately, after a couple of minutes the hot water circulated up to my head, and I was able to make the dive.
Only one clamp had been attached, and we had several more to put on. Also we had not yet placed even one clamp on the opposite side of the amplifier. Therefore we were only getting one-way communications and hadn’t achieved one of our main goals of our mission. The transmissions that had been recorded on Halibut’s previous deployments were only from Eastern Siberia.
When Yellow diver entered the water we went straight to where the clamps were stowed. I took one and went to the cable, found the amplifier, and put the clamp on the opposite side of the amplifier.
“Topside, Red Diver: I have placed a clamp on the far side of the amplifier. You want to check with the spooks to see if they’re recording Moscow?”
A couple of minutes passed, and once again we heard over our diver intercom, a cheer come up from the Main Diver Control.
Topside said, “Great, guys! The signal is coming in really strong from off that amplifier. There is going to be some happy people back home.” (The 1975 deployment of the Halibut was the first to achieve two-way communications.)
“Red Diver, Topside. You divers will need to release the POD from our sub. Once you have it in position, start putting on the clamps that are attached to it.”
Once the POD was in position and while Farinella was putting on the clamps, I looked for what I thought was a pipe we had seen on the screen in the display room. I knew approximately where it should be and only swam a short distance until I found it. It turned out not to be a pipe but the hard, white plastic core from the center of the cable. When the Soviets had spliced in the new section, they had dropped a piece overboard.
This center core of the cable had six or seven copper wires, each one about an eighth-inch thick, twisted together on the inside of this hard, white plastic. We divers wanted to cut it into pieces as souvenirs, but the project officers wanted all of it.
Red Light!
We were almost finished and working on the last couple of clamps, when on the inside of my face mask, I saw a red light. This light was triggered by a decrease in pressure from my come-home bottle for emergency return. So either my hose had been bent sharply enough to block the flow of gas, or somehow it had been cut. I knew it wasn’t a problem with the push-pull system that sends the gas to us, because Farinella was not having any problem.
I immediately said, “Topside, Red Diver: I have a red light!”
The quick, calm reply was, “Red Diver, Topside; return to the Dive Station.” Those who were over us were professionals. They knew that the tone of their voice could calm someone down and assure them. Nonetheless, it was serious, I had a red light in my face. This warned a diver that he only had a few minutes to get back or he died!
Though the voice from topside was calm, they were not sitting back in their chairs. The diving officer had the medical officer start a stopwatch. He was to remind them when five minutes had passed.
USS Stingray
Stingray’s sonar man said, “Captain, you said to tell you if there was an aspect change on that Russian destroyer. Well there is, she has started a much wider loop. If she continues on her present course, that destroyer will be near the Halibut in less than ten minutes.”
“How near?”
“It’s hard to say, but perhaps within a half mile of Halibut. The Halibut is vulnerable.”
The captain ordered, “CONN, Captain: Let’s go shallow above the thermocline. And tell forward torpedo room to ready tube number three. XO, ready our weapons system.”
USS Halibut
Halibut’s sonar man said, “Captain, that Russian destroyer I told you about before has moved out of its search area. It now seems to be headed close to us. It’s not moving in a straight course, so it’s hard to judge, but definitely closer than before. Perhaps within a mile of us, and she will be here in a few minutes.”
“Keep me abreast of her movement.”
Over the sub’s intercom: “This is the captain; go to all quiet.”
Then Captain Larson stepped over to the Main Diver Control and said, “Diving officer tell the divers to get out of the water now!”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Yellow Diver, Topside: stop whatever you’re doing and return to Dive Station, now!”
Diving Officer then said, “Captain, be advised. Red Diver, Matheny, is already coming back; he had a warning light come on in his helmet.”
“How serious is this?”
“Something has malfunctioned. It could be his diving rig, or his gas supply has been blocked. Matheny has an emergency return bottle for this. We’re timing him. If he goes straight back, he should make it.”
Soviet Destroyer
Captain Nikolay was upset that his name was laughed at by those in the acoustic range. And his desire to find an American sub was second to his desire to prove himself right and the Russian acoustic range wrong.
“Sonar, have you found anything yet?”
Sonar replies, “No, Captain. Maybe our acoustic range has something.”
Captain Nikolay hollers into the ship’s communications, “They’re useless!”
The scene on the Russian destroyer is tense and the crew is on edge, afraid to upset their captain.
Halibut’s Divers Are in the Water
I had all 350 feet of my umbilical cable out, and the communication box in the third room of the dive chamber didn’t work. I had no way to tell the tenders I was on emergency return and to help bring in my umbilical cable.
Pings from the Russian destroyer could be heard by us divers and were growing louder. The pings were also affecting the communications between us and Topside.
“Topside, Yellow Diver: What’s these pings we’re hearing?”
“Yellow Diver, Topside: Say again.”
“Topside: What’s the noise?!”
Main Diver Control with raised voice, “Yellow Diver, Topside: We have a visitor, return now!”
Dive Tender
Dive Tender, using the communication box from the second room, asked, “Topside, Tender: What’s the pinging from?”
“We’ll explain later. Just get the divers in, especially Matheny, he has a red light.”
Red Diver
I was a few minutes ahead of Yellow Diver and reached the side of the sub. I swam up from the seafloor to the top of the Halibut, dragging all 350 feet of my umbilical cable. As soon as I reached the top of the sub, I went aft to find the DSRV. The visibility was poor, about five feet without my light.
The tenders had started to bring in my cable, which caused my cable to drift out in the sea and was pulling on me from a right angle. This made it hard to hang on to our sub as the surface near to the DSRV was slippery, and the only thing to grab hold of would be a leg of the DSRV. I glanced at the red light in my face mask, which was reminding me I was running out of time.
I made it to the first leg of the DSRV but my umbilical cable was now causing me to slide off the top of the sub. Trying to prevent myself from slipping off our sub, I went on the inside of the first leg of the DSRV. But this only made a bad situation worse.
I should have gone on the outside of the first leg of the DSRV because when I had entered the water, that was the side I was on. But instead, I went on the other side and, as a result, wrapped my umbilical cable around this metal leg. Because of this, every time the tenders pulled on my umbilical to bring me back into the dive chamber, it had the opposite effect and I was pulled backward from where I needed to go. And when I pulled up on my umbilical cable, it was pulled out of the hands of the tenders. In essence we were playing tug-of-war with my umbilical cable, though at the time neither the tenders nor I knew why this was happening.
I pulled up more of my cable so it wouldn’t drag me back and then tried to reach the next leg of the DSRV. I only went a few feet before my cable stopped moving, not budging at all. Then suddenly my umbilical cable yanked me backward!
I was at a loss to understand how this could be happening. My feet landed back onto the leg of the DSRV, which prevented me from sliding back any farther. I pulled up on my cable, about 30 feet, giving me enough slack to make a dash for the next leg coming down from the DSRV. I made it!
From there I saw the light shining down in the water from the entry point back into the dive chamber. I pulled up a few more feet of my cable, intending to push off this last leg. But, again, I was jerked backward and with a sharp pull!
Main Diver Control
The medical officer said, “The five minutes are up. Red Diver has only two minutes, possibly less.”
“He is fine,” said the master diver. “We have timed this before. From where he was at, it takes five minutes to get back. He’ll be back any moment.”
Dive Tenders
Nolan and Brown, who were trying to bring me back in, had my umbilical cable jerked out of their hands. “What’s going on?!” asks Nolan. “Yellow Diver wouldn’t have pulled back Red Diver’s cable, and why would Red diver do it?” But mindful of Topside’s order to “especially” get Red Diver in, the tenders grabbed hold of my cable and tried again.
Red Diver
I had made almost a hundred dives using a cable and never had such a situation before. So who was pulling me away from the dive chamber? And what was it that had caused my gas flow to be blocked and triggered my emergency bottle? I was now remembering what the sonar man had told me about killer whales being in the area, and wondered if one of them had found my umbilical cable and decided to “play with it.” The Russian destroyer’s pings were echoing in my ears and the red light was warning me my emergency bottle was about to be empty.
I had emptied my air tanks a couple of times at Diego Garcia while making scuba dives. What happens is, it becomes increasing harder to draw a breath of air. Each succeeding breath fills your lungs with less air, until there is nothing left to breathe, in a short time one would suffocate. But at Diego Garcia we rarely dove deeper than 60 feet and all one had to do, was go to the surface and breathe. But there is no such escape from a saturation dive.
I pulled up a few more feet of my cable and pushes off the last leg of the DSRV. As I did this I reach out for the entry point, but once more I was jerked backward and this time my face mask slammed into the leg of the DSRV. I hurriedly grabbed back on to this leg to prevent getting dragged back even farther.
It was my dream to make this dive, but not to die doing it. And I had the thought, Am I getting back?
Main Diver Control
The medical officer warned, “Forty seconds!”
Diving officer raises his voice, “Master Diver, ask Matheny where he’s at.”
“Sir, the communications with the divers is not going to work. Last time we spoke to Yellow Diver, both of us had to holler at each other to be heard, and now the pings are louder.”
The diving officer ordered, “Check with the tenders!”
“Tenders, Topside: Can you see Red Diver in the water?” The diving officer and master diver saw the tenders on their TV screens, shaking their heads no.
Nolan, who was tending said, “No, Topside. And be advised Red Diver’s cable is being ripped out of our hands!”
“He has 20 seconds,” said the medical officer.
“Where is he?” asked the diving officer.
Red Diver
I wanted to go back and see what it was that was pulling me away from the DSRV. But there was no time left, I had no idea why this was happening and physically I was drained.
I did the only thing I could do—I tried to pull up more cable, but it wouldn’t budge. Unbeknown to me, the tenders were pulling my cable from the opposite direction. I then wrapped my legs around the leg of the DSRV, and with both hands I pulled toward me about six feet of my cable. Once more I pushed off and tried to make it to the entry point. Thankfully, this time I make it, and a minute later, Yellow Diver followed.
My cable was discounted from my wet suite and drop back into the water. The tenders then pulled it back around the DSRV and into the dive chamber.
The tenders hurriedly started taking off our suits and equipment. As they were doing this Yellow diver said, “You all heard the pings. The Russians know we’re here!”
Brown said, “Hey, the pinging has stopped.”
The four of us divers listened momentary for the pings. We weren’t sure what to make of the silence, but being inside of the main dive chamber (where we decompress) would be the safest place.
I said, “I don’t know if our sub is leaving, but she won’t lift off the bottom until we have closed the outer chamber door.” All four of us then quickly enter our dive chamber and shut the metal door.
Soviet Destroyer
Captain Nikolay hollered over the ship’s intercom, “Who stopped the pinging?!”
The sonar man responds, “Captain, good news! Our assistant sonar man has been going over that readout you gave us from our acoustic range, and he has come across a faint sound identical to that readout! We turned off the pings to see if we could hear it better. Not only have we found it but also that same American fast attack sub you chased out before. They are both less than two kilometers from here!”
“Great! Give the duty officer the coordinates. And if you can follow those subs using passive sonar then keep using it.”
“Radio Room, tell our acoustic range to wake up! Let them know we have found what they couldn’t. And Radio Room, be sure you tell them just like I’m telling you!”
After Captain Nikolay stopped using the ship’s intercom, he says to himself, “I’ll show them!” He then gave chase at flank speed.
USS Stingray
Stingray’s Captain and XO are standing outside their Sonar Room. “Captain, the destroyer is giving chase.” said the sonar man.
Stingray’s captain said, “Very good! Officer on Deck, let’s get our sub out of here and if that Russian wants to give chase, all the better.”
Soviet Destroyer
Over the intercom, the destroyer’s radio man said, “Captain, our acoustic range has confirmed they also hear both subs, and I told them we are already pursuing them.”
Captain Nikolay tells the officer on deck, “Make ready our weapons system.”
“Sonar, how far away is the faster sub?”
There is a brief pause, then Captain Nikolay who is irritated says, “Sonar, I’m waiting for a response!”
The sonar man said over the intercom, “Captain, I think you better come here.”
Captain Nikolay rushed to the sonar room, “What?”
“Captain, we’ll never catch that fast-attack American sub. And that slower sub was not a sub at all. It was a countermeasure.”
“Countermeasure?!”
“I’m afraid so. It’s no longer making any sound, and I heard it hit the seafloor. The sound it made at impact with the seabed was too weak to be anything but a countermeasure.”
“We were told at sonar school that the Americans were believed to be working on such a countermeasure. It’s designed to replicate the sound of their submarine, and it plays this into the water. We have been chasing a recording of a sub, not a real sub. They’ve tricked us again. Captain, I’m sorry about this.”
Captain Nikolay blurted out, “I’m not sorry! I just proved there was no second submarine. The Americans are only using countermeasure. It was our acoustic range that was tricked, not me! I can’t wait to see their faces when I tell them that! And again, I have chased an American submarine out of our waters!”
Chapter XXVIII
Home!
The success of this mission brought a joy to many, and even little pieces of information were passed along to share in the success of it. The captain and project officers were eager to tell those in the States that it was a success, as they were waiting in anticipation of our mission’s results. After leaving the Sea of Okhotsk, Halibut was a full ten days out in the Pacific before a radio message was sent with a simple, “USS Halibut, all is success!”
It was a bright sunny day when our sub and crew safely returned to San Francisco Bay. As the Halibut approaches the Golden Gate Bridge, a huge sign made by the wives of the submariners could be seen hanging from it: “Welcome Home USS Halibut!”
Under the Golden Gate, while still in route to Mare Island, the Halibut was met by a naval vessel that came alongside to receive our recordings. All the recordings had been placed in plastic bags in case they fell overboard.
Those from the naval vessel who took the recordings were armed and had on bulletproof vests. These guards were scurrying around the deck of the Halibut with their eyes wide open, as if to make sure they had everything. Quite a contrast from us as we were tired from our long deployment and hadn’t seen the sun for three months. To these guards we must have looked like albino rats coming out of a cave.
Before the guards shoved off, they unloaded several boxes of fresh fruit that were passed around to all the crew. We sat on the deck of the Halibut looking at San Francisco, enjoying the sun and eating grapes and oranges.
During the deployment I noticed that two or three of the older submariners seemed to shut down their personality, as though they had gone into hibernation. But now they were in the sunshine, smiling and fellowshipping. Looking forward to their well-deserved time off to be with their families. The chiefs, officers and the youngest of us, everyone, was glad to back!
Captain Larson and the project officer were on the deck of the Halibut, and were watching the navy’s guards unload the recordings.
“Good to breathe fresh air again after 96 days.” Said the project officer.
Captain said, “I radioed we recorded two-way communications. The CIA and NSA are ecstatic. They don’t even want to wait until we make port to get our recordings.”
“Captain, I have to remain with the recordings. I’ll be flying out from Alameda Naval Air Station. Before the sun goes down today, I and the recordings will both be in Washington, D.C.”
“That white plastic core that was found during the dives, it was from the inside of the Russian cable. I even found a picture of it in the Soviet’s own books of their cables. I know what its capabilities are, and in all probability, we now know more about this cable than the ones who are using it in Siberia.”
“I have to shove off now.”
The captain and the project officer saluted each other and part.
XXIX
The Head of the KGB
CIA Release
“Mr. Faulkner said the $35,000 was a ‘very, very minimal’ payment compared with the value of the secrets that Mr. Pelton had compromised.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP91-00561-R000100120029-7)
CIA Release
“Mr. Pelton told F.B.I. agents last year in two interviews that he took no classified documents into the embassy.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201830069-6)
Head of the KGB
Mr. Sokolov, the head of the KGB, has summoned Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov to his office. Lieutenant Volkov rushes in. “Mr. Sokolov, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” Mr. Sokolov motions for Lieutenant Volkov to take a seat. Seated beside the desk is Mr. Orlov, the security expert of the KGB.
“This is Mr. Orlov; I believe you know him.”
“Yes, we have talked over the phone before.” responds Lieutenant Volkov.
But Mr. Orlov does not get out of his chair to greet Volkov or speak even a word to him but only looks in the lieutenant’s direction.
“I have gone over your proposals. They are interesting, especially your request to station one of our destroyers at the entrance into the Sea of Okhotsk. I have been informed by Admiral Smirnov of the Soviet Naval Command that your recommendation may be needed after all. Have you heard?”
Volkov shakes his head no.
“Yes, apparently the Americans did try to enter our sea. At any rate, one of our destroyers blocked them and then chased their submarine out into the ocean.”
“Great! I am happy to hear this,” says Volkov. “Have you seen all that Mr. Pelton gave us? It’s all written there in my brief. This is a real eye-opener to our vulnerabilities. I hope you can see the needs from my proposals. I believe these should be implemented without delay.”
“Our cable in the Sea of Okhotsk has almost 20 channels of military communications, in just this one cable. All the Americans would have to do is lay a fiber-optic line from our cable to one of their islands. And then they could listen to us live, not just from recordings. In the event of a war, our naval and submarine base in the Sea of Okhotsk would be one of the first alerted. But with the Americans tapping us, we would, in actuality, be alerting them.”
Mr. Sokolov taps his desk with Lieutenant Volkov’s folder. And Mr. Orlov sits tight-lipped, staring at Volkov.
Lieutenant Volkov is excited and continues: “Right now we are test launching missiles from Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula. And whichever is most successful we hope to station in Eastern Europe. All this information is presently being carried through our cable in the Sea of Okhotsk. But we have even more locations with cables, and they are all vulnerable. They are tapping us with something called the inductive mode …”
The head of the KGB waves his hand to stop Lieutenant Volkov in midsentence. “Sir, you’re now an expert on missiles? And our cables aren’t safe?” He continues, “Mr. Volkov, your research is lacking some important and pertinent information. Do you know what a shielded cable is?”
Lieutenant Volkov doesn’t respond, and now Mr. Orlov is smiling. “It’s when a special insulating factor is put in the cable so that it cannot be tapped, including the inductive mode. We have one here at our KGB headquarters, and it runs to the Kremlin. And I have been informed by Mr. Orlov that our cable in the Sea of Okhotsk is also shielded and cannot be tapped, again not even by this inductive mode.” Mr. Orlov nods his head in agreement.
Lieutenant Volkov responds, “Mr. Sokolov, I am not sure what to say to this. But I can assure you, no one ever said anything to me about ‘shielded’ cables.”
“I am sure of it. Like I said, you could have done more research. And this American submarine you wanted us to look into—I believe it’s called a flat fish or something?”
“Halibut is its name,” interjects Volkov.
“Well, you were partially right. It does have a large complement of divers who do this diving for extended periods. But not, as you fancifully imagined, for wiretaps. They were instead looking for our cruise missiles on the bottom of the sea. We have a splash zone in the Sea of Okhotsk where we test such missiles. And that is what the Americans have been interested in.”
“But how do you know this?”
“It’s above your pay grade, Volkov.”
“At any rate, even if the Americans could locate these cruise missiles, they will not find anything of value. When they crash into the sea, they break up into thousands of pieces. And about this Mr. Pelton—you had no reservations about him?”
Lieutenant Volkov is now not certain how to respond. “It never occurred to you that he was playing you?”
“Playing me?!” Volkov utters in surprise.
“How much did you pay him for this information?” asks Mr. Sokolov.
“Just 35,000 American dollars. I can assure you this is a very modest sum for this sort of information.”
“So we got a bargain?” says Mr. Sokolov sarcastically, while Mr. Orlov chuckles.
“Lieutenant Volkov, in all the interviews you and your subordinates did with this Mr. Pelton, did he ever present you with any documents? He gave you no documentation, did he? All he told you of the NSA and everything else is what he wanted you to believe. And it seems you were eating right out of his hand and paying him to do this.”
Lieutenant Volkov responds, “Sir, I still believe my basic conclusions are right.”
“Yes you do, and that is why you will be reporting to Mr. Orlov from now on. He is involved in our security. He is an expert on these sorts of things. He is also the one who brought your failures to my attention.”
“You have a big imagination, Volkov, possibly useful. You were lucky about the destroyer, or it could have been worse for you. I am willing to give you another chance after more maturing.”
“Now all of your travels and phone calls will first be checked by Mr. Orlov. You will report to him and follow his advice. Follow it to the letter!”
“But you have the wrong impression …”
Mr. Sokolov again waves his hand to stop Lieutenant Volkov from talking. “That will be all, Lieutenant Volkov. Good day.”
After Lieutenant Volkov leaves the office, Mr. Sokolov shakes his head in disgust and says to Mr. Orlov, “Keep me abreast of his progress.”
Chapter XXX
Icing on the Cake!
Exceeding Expectations
This operation turned out to be pure gold intelligence for America. And to my knowledge has never been equaled. There are websites that list Operation Ivy Bells as the most top-secret military operation in history.
https://list25.com/25-most-top-secret-military-operations-in-history/
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/top-secret-military-operations-in-history.387322/
Captain Larson told us divers that at the debriefing he gave of our mission, two admirals told him it was the best operation they had ever heard of.
CIA Release
The CIA released that our “submarines … were able to intercept high-level military messages.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605140016-2)
CIA Release
“Ivy Bells, allowed the United States to intercept messages that Soviet submarines sent to military command posts ashore when they returned to their harbors after sea cruises. Among other things, the messages included information about where the Soviets subs had been and what they had done.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270006-3)
CIA Headquarters
Director of the CIA is talking to the CIA officer who had been at the arms negotiations. “This information from the taps is better than we hoped for. We know everything they have, both equipment and troops. We know their strengths and weaknesses, where their ballistic-missile submarines make their patrols, and even their plans in the event of war. We’ve got them!”
“We also found out something else. The Russians fear a nuclear first strike by us more than we do by them. That being so, they might be tempted to strike us first. I’ll recommend that we position our forces to ease the tensions between us.”
“Now because of the advantage this will give us at the arms negotiations, the Russians will realize that we were getting information from them—but not how. They’ll probably suspect traitors among themselves.”
CIA officer says, “It should be fun at the arms negotiations. Like playing poker with someone but knowing what cards he is holding in his hand.”
Strategic Arms Negotiations
Vienna, Austria
American arm negotiators look confident, and the Soviets look confused. CIA officer is in the background smiling.
Soviet negotiator says, “We are still willing to trade our SS-18 missiles if you can match it with a comparable equivalent.”
The American negotiators, sitting across from their Soviet counterparts, are looking at a CIA readout titled, IVY BELLS. Under “Missiles” it lists the Soviet SS-18, next to it is a hand-written note that reads, “Tell them to keep it!” American negotiators try not to laugh.
Soviet negotiator asks, “Is something funny? Look, we are trying to work with you. Are you even listening to us?”
American negotiator says, “It won’t be necessary to trade off your SS-18 missiles. We are interested in your SS-21 missiles.”
Soviet negotiator says, “SS-21 missiles? There are no such missiles.”
“We suggest you call Moscow. Let’s adjourn for a break.”
Soviet negotiator is on the phone to Moscow. Upset, he occasionally raises his voice. The CIA officer who is watching from a distance is smiling.
“Why didn’t you tell us we have such missiles?”
“I don’t know how the Americans found out.”
“You want me to bluff them, how? They know more about what we have than we do!”
Chapter XXXI
Memories
Near to where the Halibut docked from her last patrol, her sister ship was tied up. This was the sub that would take Halibut’s place, she was better equipped and had a few modifications helpful for the divers. The crew of this sister ship were getting ready for their patrol, and they walked about with a determination to get the job done, as did the sub that would follow them. But at that time the Halibut was waiting to become scrap metal.
She was mothballed in Washington State, her reactor was removed, and she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Later she was disposed of and cut up for her HY-80 steel. Today there is no USS Halibut; she exists only in pictures and the memories of sailors. She was decommissioned at Mare Island, California. After 1,232 dives, Halibut’s colors were lowered for the last time on June 30, 1976.
There were other great submarines, USS Seawolf (575), USS Parche (683), and USS Richard B. Russell (SSN-687), and in some ways they eclipsed the Halibut. But it was the USS Halibut that led the way. Farewell to a great submarine!
Some of the crew on the Halibut were “lifers” (20 or more years on active duty), and some were only in the navy for four years. But all of us on the Halibut had a significant impact on the Cold War. We came from many different states and backgrounds, and the navy trained and formed us into an effective force. I am thankful for that time we had and the exciting adventure we shared, but everything has its end. We were discharged and returned to our hometowns, never to see each other again.
We have all seen those who wear ball caps with the name of their duty station or their ship’s name written on it. Sometimes it will say “WWII Veteran” or “Pearl Harbor Survivor.” They are rightly proud of their service and we salute them. And those of us involved in Operation Ivy Bells also had a mission and a goal which we accomplished. It was a true adventure, and we were having the time of our life. But then it was stamped “TOP SECRET” and remained under this seal for the next four decades. One diver jokingly said, “Hey, guys, I’m a national hero, but I can’t tell anybody about it!”
I had almost completely blocked this mission out of my mind. I wasn’t against it, but after all, I couldn’t talk of it, so why think about it? Then I found out the CIA had dozens of these reports in their FOIA reading room. Going over them, and especially writing about it, brought back all sorts of memories and feelings I had as a young man. Looking back at that time period I see a young man who needed more courage to live for God. Thankfully, God brought Christians around to encourage me. God had blessed me.
Things Changed
I was glad I had accomplished this dive, and I had helped my country. In truth, these dives shouldn’t have been so important to me, but they were. And yes, I had a big head about it, but something changed. I realized the cards weren’t stacked against me, nor would I have to always “sit on the bench” and think life was passing me by. And now everything else seemed small in comparison. The only catch was, we couldn’t tell anyone about what we had done, because we had all signed nondisclosure agreements. Still, even that didn’t seem to matter. I no longer felt the need to prove myself, instead I saw the need to please God. And for the first time, I thanked the Lord that He didn’t let me die in that car wreck.
While in Siberia, on the sixth day of our saturation dive, I celebrated my 25th birthday. I made more than 300 dives in the navy. I am now 70 and have made only six dives since I left the navy. It’s a chapter in my life that I closed a long time ago, but I enjoyed going over it very much.
Chapter XXXI
My Gift to Dad
My wife Nancy and I, both want to shine for Jesus Christ and are thankful that He has allowed us to be missionaries among the gracious Romanian people. But my greatest mission challenge has been my dad.
Once, when I was witnessing to some old friends, one said, “You like to bug your dad about this salvation thing, don’t you?”
I responded, “Yes, I don’t want my dad to die and go to hell and burn.”
There is no other man on this planet that I loved more than my dad and I had decided that if my dad didn’t go to heaven, it wouldn’t be because I was too afraid to witness to him. My mom wasn’t saved until she was 86 years old. I led her to the Lord over the phone from Romania. But my dad wasn’t saved, and I had to try to reach him for Christ.
“And of some have compassion, making a difference.” (Jude 1:22)
Before the guards shoved off, they unloaded several boxes of fresh fruit that were passed around to all the crew. We sat on the deck of the Halibut looking at San Francisco, enjoying the sun and eating grapes and oranges.
During the deployment I noticed that two or three of the older submariners seemed to shut down their personality, as though they had gone into hibernation. But now they were in the sunshine, smiling and fellowshipping. Looking forward to their well-deserved time off to be with their families. The chiefs, officers and the youngest of us, everyone, was glad to back!
Captain Larson and the project officer were on the deck of the Halibut, and were watching the navy’s guards unload the recordings.
“Good to breathe fresh air again after 96 days.” Said the project officer.
Captain said, “I radioed we recorded two-way communications. The CIA and NSA are ecstatic. They don’t even want to wait until we make port to get our recordings.”
“Captain, I have to remain with the recordings. I’ll be flying out from Alameda Naval Air Station. Before the sun goes down today, I and the recordings will both be in Washington, D.C.”
“That white plastic core that was found during the dives, it was from the inside of the Russian cable. I even found a picture of it in the Soviet’s own books of their cables. I know what its capabilities are, and in all probability, we now know more about this cable than the ones who are using it in Siberia.”
“I have to shove off now.”
The captain and the project officer saluted each other and part.
XXIX
The Head of the KGB
CIA Release
“Mr. Faulkner said the $35,000 was a ‘very, very minimal’ payment compared with the value of the secrets that Mr. Pelton had compromised.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP91-00561-R000100120029-7)
CIA Release
“Mr. Pelton told F.B.I. agents last year in two interviews that he took no classified documents into the embassy.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201830069-6)
Head of the KGB
Mr. Sokolov, the head of the KGB, has summoned Lieutenant Mirgayas Volkov to his office. Lieutenant Volkov rushes in. “Mr. Sokolov, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” Mr. Sokolov motions for Lieutenant Volkov to take a seat. Seated beside the desk is Mr. Orlov, the security expert of the KGB.
“This is Mr. Orlov; I believe you know him.”
“Yes, we have talked over the phone before.” responds Lieutenant Volkov.
But Mr. Orlov does not get out of his chair to greet Volkov or speak even a word to him but only looks in the lieutenant’s direction.
“I have gone over your proposals. They are interesting, especially your request to station one of our destroyers at the entrance into the Sea of Okhotsk. I have been informed by Admiral Smirnov of the Soviet Naval Command that your recommendation may be needed after all. Have you heard?”
Volkov shakes his head no.
“Yes, apparently the Americans did try to enter our sea. At any rate, one of our destroyers blocked them and then chased their submarine out into the ocean.”
“Great! I am happy to hear this,” says Volkov. “Have you seen all that Mr. Pelton gave us? It’s all written there in my brief. This is a real eye-opener to our vulnerabilities. I hope you can see the needs from my proposals. I believe these should be implemented without delay.”
“Our cable in the Sea of Okhotsk has almost 20 channels of military communications, in just this one cable. All the Americans would have to do is lay a fiber-optic line from our cable to one of their islands. And then they could listen to us live, not just from recordings. In the event of a war, our naval and submarine base in the Sea of Okhotsk would be one of the first alerted. But with the Americans tapping us, we would, in actuality, be alerting them.”
Mr. Sokolov taps his desk with Lieutenant Volkov’s folder. And Mr. Orlov sits tight-lipped, staring at Volkov.
Lieutenant Volkov is excited and continues: “Right now we are test launching missiles from Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula. And whichever is most successful we hope to station in Eastern Europe. All this information is presently being carried through our cable in the Sea of Okhotsk. But we have even more locations with cables, and they are all vulnerable. They are tapping us with something called the inductive mode …”
The head of the KGB waves his hand to stop Lieutenant Volkov in midsentence. “Sir, you’re now an expert on missiles? And our cables aren’t safe?” He continues, “Mr. Volkov, your research is lacking some important and pertinent information. Do you know what a shielded cable is?”
Lieutenant Volkov doesn’t respond, and now Mr. Orlov is smiling. “It’s when a special insulating factor is put in the cable so that it cannot be tapped, including the inductive mode. We have one here at our KGB headquarters, and it runs to the Kremlin. And I have been informed by Mr. Orlov that our cable in the Sea of Okhotsk is also shielded and cannot be tapped, again not even by this inductive mode.” Mr. Orlov nods his head in agreement.
Lieutenant Volkov responds, “Mr. Sokolov, I am not sure what to say to this. But I can assure you, no one ever said anything to me about ‘shielded’ cables.”
“I am sure of it. Like I said, you could have done more research. And this American submarine you wanted us to look into—I believe it’s called a flat fish or something?”
“Halibut is its name,” interjects Volkov.
“Well, you were partially right. It does have a large complement of divers who do this diving for extended periods. But not, as you fancifully imagined, for wiretaps. They were instead looking for our cruise missiles on the bottom of the sea. We have a splash zone in the Sea of Okhotsk where we test such missiles. And that is what the Americans have been interested in.”
“But how do you know this?”
“It’s above your pay grade, Volkov.”
“At any rate, even if the Americans could locate these cruise missiles, they will not find anything of value. When they crash into the sea, they break up into thousands of pieces. And about this Mr. Pelton—you had no reservations about him?”
Lieutenant Volkov is now not certain how to respond. “It never occurred to you that he was playing you?”
“Playing me?!” Volkov utters in surprise.
“How much did you pay him for this information?” asks Mr. Sokolov.
“Just 35,000 American dollars. I can assure you this is a very modest sum for this sort of information.”
“So we got a bargain?” says Mr. Sokolov sarcastically, while Mr. Orlov chuckles.
“Lieutenant Volkov, in all the interviews you and your subordinates did with this Mr. Pelton, did he ever present you with any documents? He gave you no documentation, did he? All he told you of the NSA and everything else is what he wanted you to believe. And it seems you were eating right out of his hand and paying him to do this.”
Lieutenant Volkov responds, “Sir, I still believe my basic conclusions are right.”
“Yes you do, and that is why you will be reporting to Mr. Orlov from now on. He is involved in our security. He is an expert on these sorts of things. He is also the one who brought your failures to my attention.”
“You have a big imagination, Volkov, possibly useful. You were lucky about the destroyer, or it could have been worse for you. I am willing to give you another chance after more maturing.”
“Now all of your travels and phone calls will first be checked by Mr. Orlov. You will report to him and follow his advice. Follow it to the letter!”
“But you have the wrong impression …”
Mr. Sokolov again waves his hand to stop Lieutenant Volkov from talking. “That will be all, Lieutenant Volkov. Good day.”
After Lieutenant Volkov leaves the office, Mr. Sokolov shakes his head in disgust and says to Mr. Orlov, “Keep me abreast of his progress.”
Chapter XXX
Icing on the Cake!
Exceeding Expectations
This operation turned out to be pure gold intelligence for America. And to my knowledge has never been equaled. There are websites that list Operation Ivy Bells as the most top-secret military operation in history.
https://list25.com/25-most-top-secret-military-operations-in-history/
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/top-secret-military-operations-in-history.387322/
Captain Larson told us divers that at the debriefing he gave of our mission, two admirals told him it was the best operation they had ever heard of.
CIA Release
The CIA released that our “submarines … were able to intercept high-level military messages.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605140016-2)
CIA Release
“Ivy Bells, allowed the United States to intercept messages that Soviet submarines sent to military command posts ashore when they returned to their harbors after sea cruises. Among other things, the messages included information about where the Soviets subs had been and what they had done.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270006-3)
CIA Headquarters
Director of the CIA is talking to the CIA officer who had been at the arms negotiations. “This information from the taps is better than we hoped for. We know everything they have, both equipment and troops. We know their strengths and weaknesses, where their ballistic-missile submarines make their patrols, and even their plans in the event of war. We’ve got them!”
“We also found out something else. The Russians fear a nuclear first strike by us more than we do by them. That being so, they might be tempted to strike us first. I’ll recommend that we position our forces to ease the tensions between us.”
“Now because of the advantage this will give us at the arms negotiations, the Russians will realize that we were getting information from them—but not how. They’ll probably suspect traitors among themselves.”
CIA officer says, “It should be fun at the arms negotiations. Like playing poker with someone but knowing what cards he is holding in his hand.”
Strategic Arms Negotiations
Vienna, Austria
American arm negotiators look confident, and the Soviets look confused. CIA officer is in the background smiling.
Soviet negotiator says, “We are still willing to trade our SS-18 missiles if you can match it with a comparable equivalent.”
The American negotiators, sitting across from their Soviet counterparts, are looking at a CIA readout titled, IVY BELLS. Under “Missiles” it lists the Soviet SS-18, next to it is a hand-written note that reads, “Tell them to keep it!” American negotiators try not to laugh.
Soviet negotiator asks, “Is something funny? Look, we are trying to work with you. Are you even listening to us?”
American negotiator says, “It won’t be necessary to trade off your SS-18 missiles. We are interested in your SS-21 missiles.”
Soviet negotiator says, “SS-21 missiles? There are no such missiles.”
“We suggest you call Moscow. Let’s adjourn for a break.”
Soviet negotiator is on the phone to Moscow. Upset, he occasionally raises his voice. The CIA officer who is watching from a distance is smiling.
“Why didn’t you tell us we have such missiles?”
“I don’t know how the Americans found out.”
“You want me to bluff them, how? They know more about what we have than we do!”
Chapter XXXI
Memories
Near to where the Halibut docked from her last patrol, her sister ship was tied up. This was the sub that would take Halibut’s place, she was better equipped and had a few modifications helpful for the divers. The crew of this sister ship were getting ready for their patrol, and they walked about with a determination to get the job done, as did the sub that would follow them. But at that time the Halibut was waiting to become scrap metal.
She was mothballed in Washington State, her reactor was removed, and she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Later she was disposed of and cut up for her HY-80 steel. Today there is no USS Halibut; she exists only in pictures and the memories of sailors. She was decommissioned at Mare Island, California. After 1,232 dives, Halibut’s colors were lowered for the last time on June 30, 1976.
There were other great submarines, USS Seawolf (575), USS Parche (683), and USS Richard B. Russell (SSN-687), and in some ways they eclipsed the Halibut. But it was the USS Halibut that led the way. Farewell to a great submarine!
Some of the crew on the Halibut were “lifers” (20 or more years on active duty), and some were only in the navy for four years. But all of us on the Halibut had a significant impact on the Cold War. We came from many different states and backgrounds, and the navy trained and formed us into an effective force. I am thankful for that time we had and the exciting adventure we shared, but everything has its end. We were discharged and returned to our hometowns, never to see each other again.
We have all seen those who wear ball caps with the name of their duty station or their ship’s name written on it. Sometimes it will say “WWII Veteran” or “Pearl Harbor Survivor.” They are rightly proud of their service and we salute them. And those of us involved in Operation Ivy Bells also had a mission and a goal which we accomplished. It was a true adventure, and we were having the time of our life. But then it was stamped “TOP SECRET” and remained under this seal for the next four decades. One diver jokingly said, “Hey, guys, I’m a national hero, but I can’t tell anybody about it!”
I had almost completely blocked this mission out of my mind. I wasn’t against it, but after all, I couldn’t talk of it, so why think about it? Then I found out the CIA had dozens of these reports in their FOIA reading room. Going over them, and especially writing about it, brought back all sorts of memories and feelings I had as a young man. Looking back at that time period I see a young man who needed more courage to live for God. Thankfully, God brought Christians around to encourage me. God had blessed me.
Things Changed
I was glad I had accomplished this dive, and I had helped my country. In truth, these dives shouldn’t have been so important to me, but they were. And yes, I had a big head about it, but something changed. I realized the cards weren’t stacked against me, nor would I have to always “sit on the bench” and think life was passing me by. And now everything else seemed small in comparison. The only catch was, we couldn’t tell anyone about what we had done, because we had all signed nondisclosure agreements. Still, even that didn’t seem to matter. I no longer felt the need to prove myself, instead I saw the need to please God. And for the first time, I thanked the Lord that He didn’t let me die in that car wreck.
While in Siberia, on the sixth day of our saturation dive, I celebrated my 25th birthday. I made more than 300 dives in the navy. I am now 70 and have made only six dives since I left the navy. It’s a chapter in my life that I closed a long time ago, but I enjoyed going over it very much.
Chapter XXXI
My Gift to Dad
My wife Nancy and I, both want to shine for Jesus Christ and are thankful that He has allowed us to be missionaries among the gracious Romanian people. But my greatest mission challenge has been my dad.
Once, when I was witnessing to some old friends, one said, “You like to bug your dad about this salvation thing, don’t you?”
I responded, “Yes, I don’t want my dad to die and go to hell and burn.”
There is no other man on this planet that I loved more than my dad and I had decided that if my dad didn’t go to heaven, it wouldn’t be because I was too afraid to witness to him. My mom wasn’t saved until she was 86 years old. I led her to the Lord over the phone from Romania. But my dad wasn’t saved, and I had to try to reach him for Christ.
“And of some have compassion, making a difference.” (Jude 1:22)
Author witnessing to his dad.
When my dad was 94 years old, while I was home on furlough from Romania, I went to visit him in a veteran’s rest home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On the third day of our visit, I rolled his wheelchair outside and shared with him something I had never told him before.
“Dad, you remember me going into the Seabees for the navy, don’t you?”
“Well, yes, I was glad you went in the service, son. That was the best thing for you.”
“Yes, it was. And you remember when I became a diver and then a saturation diver and I was on that submarine the USS Halibut?”
“Of course, I do, Garry. I was very proud of you.”
“Yes, I know, and I’m glad.”
I paused and said, “One more thing. Do you know why I joined the navy and became a diver?”
He pulled his head back and shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I did it for you. All that was for you Dad. Don’t get me wrong; I really enjoyed it. And I am so thankful to God that he let me do all that. But my decision to go into the military in the first place was to please you.”
I told him how I had made that decision while in the hospital because of my car wreck, and I had seen how disappointed he was in me. And because of that I wanted to do something that would make him happy. When I was telling him this, I also shared how I had trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior while I was in the navy.
I asked him, “Dad, did you know that was my reason for going into the navy?”
“No, not that part you shared about why you did it.”
“Well, that is how it happened. I did it all for you.” I paused momentarily and then asked him one more time, “Dad, would you like Jesus Christ to be your Savior?”
He simply said, “Yes.”
“Dad, here are some things you could say to God. You could admit to God that you’re a sinner like all men. And tell God that you believe His Son Jesus Christ died in your place and that his body arose from the grave. And then directly call upon Jesus Christ to save you and come into your soul, and put your faith in Him to do that. Could you do that Dad?”
“Yes.”
I asked him if he would take his cap off, because we were going to talk to the One who made us. I asked him to repeat the following prayer after me but to say it back to God in heaven. The words in themselves have no magic in them, but if one prays them from his heart to God, He will hear and save that soul. Could you pray from your heart the following prayer?
“Dear God, I believe, that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross and that on the third day his body arose from the grave. And now I ask Him to save me. Dear Jesus, thank you for taking my place on the cross and paying for my sins. Please come into my soul, and when I die take me to heaven. In Jesus’s name.”
I have led people to the Lord for over 40 years. But my dad did something when he was praying that I had never heard before. He called God “Sir.” This won’t mean much to others, but knowing my dad and how sparingly he used the word “sir,” I knew it was his highest form of respect.
“Dad, you meant that, didn’t you?”
“Well, of course I meant it!” he said. “A man would have to be a [blankety-blank] fool not to do something like that.” He didn’t know not to use those “adjectives,” but I was smiling anyway.
Happy
The fifth commandment says, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” And God is faithful to His promise that is attached to this commandment, “that it may go well with thee” (Deuteronomy 5:16). And as setting out to please my dad had made me happy, so setting out to please God has made Nancy and me very happy!
God had used that mission to have me turn over to Him what I would do with my life. And I’m glad I gave that decision to Him, not wasting my life on myself but I gave it to Christ! After graduation from Bible college, I served as associate pastor and then pastor in the state of Washington for a total of 12 years. Since 1991, Nancy and I have been missionaries in the country of Romania.
To God be the glory!
© Copyrighted
Epilogue
Why the Red Light?
As to why the Red Light came on in my helmet, this happened to another diver on one of the earlier training dives. And both situations were determined to be leaking fittings on the come-home bottle.
When my dad was 94 years old, while I was home on furlough from Romania, I went to visit him in a veteran’s rest home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On the third day of our visit, I rolled his wheelchair outside and shared with him something I had never told him before.
“Dad, you remember me going into the Seabees for the navy, don’t you?”
“Well, yes, I was glad you went in the service, son. That was the best thing for you.”
“Yes, it was. And you remember when I became a diver and then a saturation diver and I was on that submarine the USS Halibut?”
“Of course, I do, Garry. I was very proud of you.”
“Yes, I know, and I’m glad.”
I paused and said, “One more thing. Do you know why I joined the navy and became a diver?”
He pulled his head back and shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I did it for you. All that was for you Dad. Don’t get me wrong; I really enjoyed it. And I am so thankful to God that he let me do all that. But my decision to go into the military in the first place was to please you.”
I told him how I had made that decision while in the hospital because of my car wreck, and I had seen how disappointed he was in me. And because of that I wanted to do something that would make him happy. When I was telling him this, I also shared how I had trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior while I was in the navy.
I asked him, “Dad, did you know that was my reason for going into the navy?”
“No, not that part you shared about why you did it.”
“Well, that is how it happened. I did it all for you.” I paused momentarily and then asked him one more time, “Dad, would you like Jesus Christ to be your Savior?”
He simply said, “Yes.”
“Dad, here are some things you could say to God. You could admit to God that you’re a sinner like all men. And tell God that you believe His Son Jesus Christ died in your place and that his body arose from the grave. And then directly call upon Jesus Christ to save you and come into your soul, and put your faith in Him to do that. Could you do that Dad?”
“Yes.”
I asked him if he would take his cap off, because we were going to talk to the One who made us. I asked him to repeat the following prayer after me but to say it back to God in heaven. The words in themselves have no magic in them, but if one prays them from his heart to God, He will hear and save that soul. Could you pray from your heart the following prayer?
“Dear God, I believe, that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross and that on the third day his body arose from the grave. And now I ask Him to save me. Dear Jesus, thank you for taking my place on the cross and paying for my sins. Please come into my soul, and when I die take me to heaven. In Jesus’s name.”
I have led people to the Lord for over 40 years. But my dad did something when he was praying that I had never heard before. He called God “Sir.” This won’t mean much to others, but knowing my dad and how sparingly he used the word “sir,” I knew it was his highest form of respect.
“Dad, you meant that, didn’t you?”
“Well, of course I meant it!” he said. “A man would have to be a [blankety-blank] fool not to do something like that.” He didn’t know not to use those “adjectives,” but I was smiling anyway.
Happy
The fifth commandment says, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” And God is faithful to His promise that is attached to this commandment, “that it may go well with thee” (Deuteronomy 5:16). And as setting out to please my dad had made me happy, so setting out to please God has made Nancy and me very happy!
God had used that mission to have me turn over to Him what I would do with my life. And I’m glad I gave that decision to Him, not wasting my life on myself but I gave it to Christ! After graduation from Bible college, I served as associate pastor and then pastor in the state of Washington for a total of 12 years. Since 1991, Nancy and I have been missionaries in the country of Romania.
To God be the glory!
© Copyrighted
Epilogue
Why the Red Light?
As to why the Red Light came on in my helmet, this happened to another diver on one of the earlier training dives. And both situations were determined to be leaking fittings on the come-home bottle.
Relic of the Cold War
CIA Release
“Eavesdropping operation involving U. S. Submarines and a high technology device that officials now believe is in Soviet hands.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402820034-2)
This POD was found by the Russians and placed on public display in Russia’s Great Patriotic War Museum in Moscow. Soviet Vice Admiral Alexander Zhardetsky, former head of Military Intelligence, said many transistors inside this device were stamped “Made in the USA.” Once the Russians found out about Operation Ivy Bells, they would no longer transmit their intelligence through an unshielded cable. (I have heard that a cable which uses wire mesh as a shield can still have the wire mesh separated enough to allow communications inside the cable to bleed through.)
This POD worked well on the surface but kept malfunctioning at depth. Before I was attached to the Halibut, I had seen the device, and the barge I was then assigned to give support to those who were trying to solve the problem. It is my understanding that the Halibut tried to use it before I was assigned to her. The POD was not used when we dove in 1975, instead we used only the clamps from the Halibut. However, it was used in subsequent missions and apparently worked well until the operation was betrayed.
CIA Release
“Eavesdropping operation involving U. S. Submarines and a high technology device that officials now believe is in Soviet hands.” (Declassified in Part—Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402820034-2)
This POD was found by the Russians and placed on public display in Russia’s Great Patriotic War Museum in Moscow. Soviet Vice Admiral Alexander Zhardetsky, former head of Military Intelligence, said many transistors inside this device were stamped “Made in the USA.” Once the Russians found out about Operation Ivy Bells, they would no longer transmit their intelligence through an unshielded cable. (I have heard that a cable which uses wire mesh as a shield can still have the wire mesh separated enough to allow communications inside the cable to bleed through.)
This POD worked well on the surface but kept malfunctioning at depth. Before I was attached to the Halibut, I had seen the device, and the barge I was then assigned to give support to those who were trying to solve the problem. It is my understanding that the Halibut tried to use it before I was assigned to her. The POD was not used when we dove in 1975, instead we used only the clamps from the Halibut. However, it was used in subsequent missions and apparently worked well until the operation was betrayed.
Legion of Merit
I was awarded the Legion of Merit for this dive, along with all the divers who entered the water. Several months after I was out of the navy a congressional committee approved my Legion of Merit. I returned to Point Loma for a brief ceremony and a two star admiral pinned the medal on.
The commendation I received reads: “SW2 [DV] Garry M. Matheny, USN. Deployed for a second and even more arduous deployment. During this 96-day deployment he participated in a submarine operation of great importance to the government of the United States. Although description of this operation is precluded by security constraints, the ratee performed in a hostile environment under great operational stress requiring exceptional courage, constant vigilance and keen professional competence. His performance in that environment was superb and was a key factor in the ship’s success in that operation.” This was signed by C. R. Larson, Capt. USN Commanding Officer.
I was awarded the Legion of Merit for this dive, along with all the divers who entered the water. Several months after I was out of the navy a congressional committee approved my Legion of Merit. I returned to Point Loma for a brief ceremony and a two star admiral pinned the medal on.
The commendation I received reads: “SW2 [DV] Garry M. Matheny, USN. Deployed for a second and even more arduous deployment. During this 96-day deployment he participated in a submarine operation of great importance to the government of the United States. Although description of this operation is precluded by security constraints, the ratee performed in a hostile environment under great operational stress requiring exceptional courage, constant vigilance and keen professional competence. His performance in that environment was superb and was a key factor in the ship’s success in that operation.” This was signed by C. R. Larson, Capt. USN Commanding Officer.
Author receiving plaque from Captain Charles R. Larson. Commanding Officer of the USS Halibut 587. Captain Larson later became a four-star admiral and was given command of the entire Pacific. Born November 20, 1936—Died July 26, 2014.
Helped End the Cold War
The intelligence gleaned from Operation Ivy Bells aided our arms negotiators and led directly to the SALT II talks in 1979. Many believe it helped bring about the end of the Cold War. It can be debated how much help this operation was in ending the Cold War, but it did have a part. It must have been very frustrating for the Soviets when they found out that we knew every secret they sent through these cables. All their plans were being read by the CIA, and we would have countered their weapons and countermeasures. At that time the Soviet Union was going broke trying to keep pace with America. Giving up on the Cold War probably seemed like a good idea, and then the Soviet Union collapsed.
Training
A month after our sub returned to the States, I completed my time in the navy, was honorably discharged, and from there I went to Bible college.
“Why go to Bible college? Isn’t God big enough to bless your ministry without that?”
Question: How do you become a navy diver? Answer: You start by joining the navy. I wouldn’t call boot camp fun, but I would never have become a navy diver without it. There is a logical progression of the training we need to reach the goals we want. If we are not willing to learn from others or if we have too much pride to place ourselves under other people’s authority, then we’ll end up with unfulfilled dreams. One may have zeal, but without proper training, he is no better than an unguided missile. There are prices we pay for the dreams we want.
USS Halibut’s Presidential Unit Citations
Even before Halibut’s last deployment, all on board knew that it was her last run—because she had come to the end of her nuclear fuel.
Captain Larson presided at her decommissioning with about 500 people present. Many people I have never met worked behind the scene to develop the innovative technology of the USS Halibut, and they also share in her remarkable success. Halibut’s awards and Presidential Unit Citation from this and her other missions, which were also great, were acknowledged at this ceremony. I was in summer school at Bible college when she was decommissioned, but my heart was there.
While the USS Halibut was still in service, she had the distinction of being the most highly decorated submarine of the post-WWII era. (This honor was later passed to the USS Parche, SSN-683) In 1968 the USS Halibut received the first of her Presidential Unit Citations. Many people are aware of the our government’s mission to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129, known as Project Azorian (the press called it “Jennifer”). In 1974 the Hughes Glomar Explorer raised up from the ocean floor at least part of this Soviet submarine. However, this Soviet sub wasn’t found by the Hughes Glomar Explorer but by the USS Halibut.
The Halibut had found K-129 using her Fish. The Russians had searched for their lost sub for several months but were unsuccessful; but the Halibut found K-129 in only three weeks, and that at a depth of over three miles, a feat nothing less than spectacular.
President Nixon personally presented this award to the crew of the USS Halibut. This ceremony was conducted in secret so the news media wouldn’t ask questions as to why he was there.
Presidential Unit Citation—1968
“For exceptional meritorious service on support of National Research and Development efforts while serving as a unit in the Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Conducting highly technical submarine operations, over an extended period of time, USS HALIBUT (SSN-587) successfully concluded several missions of significant scientific value to the Government of the United States. The professional, military, and technical competence, and inspiring devotion to duty of HALIBUT's officers and men, reflect great credit upon themselves and the United States Naval Service.”
In 1972 the USS Halibut received yet another Presidential Unit Citations for Operation Ivy Bells. These citations stopped after this, Halibut was, after all, a spy sub, and the attention these Presidential Unit Citations were drawing to the Halibut wasn’t welcome.
Presidential Unit Citation—1972
“For extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty as a unit in the Submarine Force, United States Pacific Fleet during 1972, USS HALIBUT successfully accomplished two highly productive and complex submarine operations of immeasurable value to the Government of the United States. The superb professional competence, extremely effective teamwork and exemplary devotion to duty displayed by the officers and men of USS HALIBUT reflect great credit upon themselves, the Submarine Force and the United States Naval Service.”
The Cable Taps Ended
The cable recordings continued after I left the navy in 1975 and remained safe until the 1980s, when it was compromised.
In 1980 when Pelton first informed the Russians, they didn’t immediately search for the POD. Different theories exist as to why the Russians waited. Some believe that after Pelton informed the Russians, they may have fed us disinformation. If that were so, then why did the Russians recover the POD and stop the taps? If they wanted to give us false information, it would have been to their advantage to keep it going.
It seems more likely that at the beginning, without another corroborating source, Pelton’s story may not have received attention at a high level.
CIA Release
Deputy CIA Director Robert M. Gates, when talking about the Pelton case, said, “Whether you’re a Soviet or an American intelligence officer, you often won’t take at face value what you hear from a single source …” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2013/05/21: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220033-5)
Also, for much of the year this sea cannot be navigated by surface vessels. According to New World Encyclopedia, “In winter, navigation on the Sea (of Okhotsk) is difficult, if not impossible, due to the formation of large ice floe … Between October and April, temperatures are bitter, and the area is ice-covered. …”
But in 1981 our satellites saw a Soviet salvage vessel at the site of the taps. The navy sent one of our project subs to the site to see if the taps were still working, but that was when we learned the POD was missing, the Russians had it.
Still Useful
Halibut was the spy in Soviet headquarters, with admirals, generals and members of the politburo, listening to all their uncensored calls. And this went on for a decade! In short, we learned how they thought, and this is still valuable today.
Dives Before 1975
There was another reason why they would not lift the bow of the Halibut to remove the cable. Before I was assigned to the Halibut, on one of the dives at location, a dangerous situation arose. At that time, the dives were made with the Halibut floating a few feet above the sea floor but held in position by her anchors. The sea is never completely motionless, which caused the Halibut to sway. During a dive the cable to the forward anchor broke. The sub was then at the mercy of the sea, while the divers were still in the water. One of the divers looked up, and to his surprise, he saw the bow of the Halibut coming at him. Obviously a dangerous situation. The crew of the Halibut was able regain control, and the divers were able to reenter the habitat safely. But after that, divers were not allowed in the water while the sub was held in place with only her anchors. We would need to be in the water in order to move the cable out from under the skid. Therefore raising the Halibut at the bow was not an option.
Side Thrusters
There were two deployments of the Halibut in 1974. The second one, which I was on, made no saturation dives but only looked for the amplifier that was on the Russian cable.
The search for this amplifier wasn’t simple, with our sub fighting currents and moving at a snail’s pace in order for the Fish to follow the cable. Sand covered this cable in many places, and the cable itself was not always laid in a straight line. The Soviet ship that replaced this amplifier, after finishing the job, didn’t drop it directly on top of the cable that was below on the seafloor, but laid it off to one side. That meant the full 400 feet of the cable, the distance from the seabed to the surface, was pulled to one side and dropped overboard. So every time our Fish passed over this section of cable, one leg did veer off, but the Fish picked up the other side only a few feet away as it was coming out of the sand. They naturally thought the cable was still running in basically a straight line, but it wasn’t, and this was the section the amplifier was on. This section was eventually searched, and there they found the amplifier. Without the side thrusters, this wouldn’t have been possible.
Cover Story
The cover story of recovering debris from the Soviet cruise missiles was actually carried out by the USS Halibut, even though it was still used as a cover story for the cable taps. This was done before I was assigned to the Halibut in 1974.
A saturation diver told me that when Halibut returned to America, she was “parked” offshore near San Diego and close to the Point Loma sub base. At night divers from the Halibut detached an undercarriage that was attached to the bottom of our sub and moved it close to shore. There the contents (broken pieces of the supersonic Russian SS-N-12 Sandbox missile) were transferred to a waiting truck.
In order to keep from widening the circle of those who knew about the operation, the navy used saturation divers to drive the truck. One of the SAT divers who drove the truck told me he felt like James Bond when he took bags from divers coming out of the water and then hurriedly placed them in the back of a tarp-covered truck. These pieces were then transferred to a navy research laboratory to make a countermeasure against this missile. It was discovered that the Soviets were only using a radar guidance system, not an infrared system.
Ask God
I am thankful to all those who were watching out for our country and had a part in making it possible: NSA, CIA, and the US Navy. But God allowed it, and He can allow your dreams also. Of course, God may say no, many times I haven’t received what I asked for. Still He wants us to look to Him in prayer for our dreams. There are things God will not give us simply because we will not ask Him. The Bible says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). For some it’s pride that keeps them from asking God. “I don’t need any help” is their attitude. There are some things we could have had already in our lives, but we haven’t asked Him. So, again, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.”
When I get to heaven, the last thing I would want to hear is, “See all these things I wanted to give you while you were on Earth, but you forgot to ask!” And if God gives us something, then He expects us to use it for Him.
For More Books by Author go to the top of the page and place
the pointer over FREE EBOOKS. The drop down will appear and then choose which eBook you want.
Helped End the Cold War
The intelligence gleaned from Operation Ivy Bells aided our arms negotiators and led directly to the SALT II talks in 1979. Many believe it helped bring about the end of the Cold War. It can be debated how much help this operation was in ending the Cold War, but it did have a part. It must have been very frustrating for the Soviets when they found out that we knew every secret they sent through these cables. All their plans were being read by the CIA, and we would have countered their weapons and countermeasures. At that time the Soviet Union was going broke trying to keep pace with America. Giving up on the Cold War probably seemed like a good idea, and then the Soviet Union collapsed.
Training
A month after our sub returned to the States, I completed my time in the navy, was honorably discharged, and from there I went to Bible college.
“Why go to Bible college? Isn’t God big enough to bless your ministry without that?”
Question: How do you become a navy diver? Answer: You start by joining the navy. I wouldn’t call boot camp fun, but I would never have become a navy diver without it. There is a logical progression of the training we need to reach the goals we want. If we are not willing to learn from others or if we have too much pride to place ourselves under other people’s authority, then we’ll end up with unfulfilled dreams. One may have zeal, but without proper training, he is no better than an unguided missile. There are prices we pay for the dreams we want.
USS Halibut’s Presidential Unit Citations
Even before Halibut’s last deployment, all on board knew that it was her last run—because she had come to the end of her nuclear fuel.
Captain Larson presided at her decommissioning with about 500 people present. Many people I have never met worked behind the scene to develop the innovative technology of the USS Halibut, and they also share in her remarkable success. Halibut’s awards and Presidential Unit Citation from this and her other missions, which were also great, were acknowledged at this ceremony. I was in summer school at Bible college when she was decommissioned, but my heart was there.
While the USS Halibut was still in service, she had the distinction of being the most highly decorated submarine of the post-WWII era. (This honor was later passed to the USS Parche, SSN-683) In 1968 the USS Halibut received the first of her Presidential Unit Citations. Many people are aware of the our government’s mission to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129, known as Project Azorian (the press called it “Jennifer”). In 1974 the Hughes Glomar Explorer raised up from the ocean floor at least part of this Soviet submarine. However, this Soviet sub wasn’t found by the Hughes Glomar Explorer but by the USS Halibut.
The Halibut had found K-129 using her Fish. The Russians had searched for their lost sub for several months but were unsuccessful; but the Halibut found K-129 in only three weeks, and that at a depth of over three miles, a feat nothing less than spectacular.
President Nixon personally presented this award to the crew of the USS Halibut. This ceremony was conducted in secret so the news media wouldn’t ask questions as to why he was there.
Presidential Unit Citation—1968
“For exceptional meritorious service on support of National Research and Development efforts while serving as a unit in the Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Conducting highly technical submarine operations, over an extended period of time, USS HALIBUT (SSN-587) successfully concluded several missions of significant scientific value to the Government of the United States. The professional, military, and technical competence, and inspiring devotion to duty of HALIBUT's officers and men, reflect great credit upon themselves and the United States Naval Service.”
In 1972 the USS Halibut received yet another Presidential Unit Citations for Operation Ivy Bells. These citations stopped after this, Halibut was, after all, a spy sub, and the attention these Presidential Unit Citations were drawing to the Halibut wasn’t welcome.
Presidential Unit Citation—1972
“For extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty as a unit in the Submarine Force, United States Pacific Fleet during 1972, USS HALIBUT successfully accomplished two highly productive and complex submarine operations of immeasurable value to the Government of the United States. The superb professional competence, extremely effective teamwork and exemplary devotion to duty displayed by the officers and men of USS HALIBUT reflect great credit upon themselves, the Submarine Force and the United States Naval Service.”
The Cable Taps Ended
The cable recordings continued after I left the navy in 1975 and remained safe until the 1980s, when it was compromised.
In 1980 when Pelton first informed the Russians, they didn’t immediately search for the POD. Different theories exist as to why the Russians waited. Some believe that after Pelton informed the Russians, they may have fed us disinformation. If that were so, then why did the Russians recover the POD and stop the taps? If they wanted to give us false information, it would have been to their advantage to keep it going.
It seems more likely that at the beginning, without another corroborating source, Pelton’s story may not have received attention at a high level.
CIA Release
Deputy CIA Director Robert M. Gates, when talking about the Pelton case, said, “Whether you’re a Soviet or an American intelligence officer, you often won’t take at face value what you hear from a single source …” (Declassified and Approved for Release 2013/05/21: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220033-5)
Also, for much of the year this sea cannot be navigated by surface vessels. According to New World Encyclopedia, “In winter, navigation on the Sea (of Okhotsk) is difficult, if not impossible, due to the formation of large ice floe … Between October and April, temperatures are bitter, and the area is ice-covered. …”
But in 1981 our satellites saw a Soviet salvage vessel at the site of the taps. The navy sent one of our project subs to the site to see if the taps were still working, but that was when we learned the POD was missing, the Russians had it.
Still Useful
Halibut was the spy in Soviet headquarters, with admirals, generals and members of the politburo, listening to all their uncensored calls. And this went on for a decade! In short, we learned how they thought, and this is still valuable today.
Dives Before 1975
There was another reason why they would not lift the bow of the Halibut to remove the cable. Before I was assigned to the Halibut, on one of the dives at location, a dangerous situation arose. At that time, the dives were made with the Halibut floating a few feet above the sea floor but held in position by her anchors. The sea is never completely motionless, which caused the Halibut to sway. During a dive the cable to the forward anchor broke. The sub was then at the mercy of the sea, while the divers were still in the water. One of the divers looked up, and to his surprise, he saw the bow of the Halibut coming at him. Obviously a dangerous situation. The crew of the Halibut was able regain control, and the divers were able to reenter the habitat safely. But after that, divers were not allowed in the water while the sub was held in place with only her anchors. We would need to be in the water in order to move the cable out from under the skid. Therefore raising the Halibut at the bow was not an option.
Side Thrusters
There were two deployments of the Halibut in 1974. The second one, which I was on, made no saturation dives but only looked for the amplifier that was on the Russian cable.
The search for this amplifier wasn’t simple, with our sub fighting currents and moving at a snail’s pace in order for the Fish to follow the cable. Sand covered this cable in many places, and the cable itself was not always laid in a straight line. The Soviet ship that replaced this amplifier, after finishing the job, didn’t drop it directly on top of the cable that was below on the seafloor, but laid it off to one side. That meant the full 400 feet of the cable, the distance from the seabed to the surface, was pulled to one side and dropped overboard. So every time our Fish passed over this section of cable, one leg did veer off, but the Fish picked up the other side only a few feet away as it was coming out of the sand. They naturally thought the cable was still running in basically a straight line, but it wasn’t, and this was the section the amplifier was on. This section was eventually searched, and there they found the amplifier. Without the side thrusters, this wouldn’t have been possible.
Cover Story
The cover story of recovering debris from the Soviet cruise missiles was actually carried out by the USS Halibut, even though it was still used as a cover story for the cable taps. This was done before I was assigned to the Halibut in 1974.
A saturation diver told me that when Halibut returned to America, she was “parked” offshore near San Diego and close to the Point Loma sub base. At night divers from the Halibut detached an undercarriage that was attached to the bottom of our sub and moved it close to shore. There the contents (broken pieces of the supersonic Russian SS-N-12 Sandbox missile) were transferred to a waiting truck.
In order to keep from widening the circle of those who knew about the operation, the navy used saturation divers to drive the truck. One of the SAT divers who drove the truck told me he felt like James Bond when he took bags from divers coming out of the water and then hurriedly placed them in the back of a tarp-covered truck. These pieces were then transferred to a navy research laboratory to make a countermeasure against this missile. It was discovered that the Soviets were only using a radar guidance system, not an infrared system.
Ask God
I am thankful to all those who were watching out for our country and had a part in making it possible: NSA, CIA, and the US Navy. But God allowed it, and He can allow your dreams also. Of course, God may say no, many times I haven’t received what I asked for. Still He wants us to look to Him in prayer for our dreams. There are things God will not give us simply because we will not ask Him. The Bible says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). For some it’s pride that keeps them from asking God. “I don’t need any help” is their attitude. There are some things we could have had already in our lives, but we haven’t asked Him. So, again, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.”
When I get to heaven, the last thing I would want to hear is, “See all these things I wanted to give you while you were on Earth, but you forgot to ask!” And if God gives us something, then He expects us to use it for Him.
For More Books by Author go to the top of the page and place
the pointer over FREE EBOOKS. The drop down will appear and then choose which eBook you want.
Below is the trailer for, GOD & SPIES.
Though the film GOD & SPIES can be found at Christian Cinema, Amazon Prime Video,
and other platforms, it is free here, see HOME page.
Though the film GOD & SPIES can be found at Christian Cinema, Amazon Prime Video,
and other platforms, it is free here, see HOME page.
Go back to "HOME" or read another eBook.